
Of Presidents, Policies, and Patients

On behalf of the undersigned members of the Protecting Access to Pain Relief (PAPR) Coalition, please find written comments in response to the Request for Comment entitled “Management of Acute and Chronic Pain” (Docket No. CDC-2020-0029) issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Representing millions of patients, people with disabilities and older adults, our organizations are writing to express our strong and urgent support for the Department’s Office for Civil Rights to issue additional guidance to ensure that schemes to ration scarce health care resources during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic comply with federal nondiscrimination laws.
We applaud your efforts to deliver on President Trump’s Advancing American Kidney Health Initiative. You have stated that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will reform regulations so that fewer Americans suffer kidney failure, more options are available for dialysis patients, and more organs are available for transplant.