National Pain Care Policy Act of 2008 - Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to enter an agreement with the Institute of Medicine to convene a Conference on Pain to: (1) increase the recognition of pain as a significant public health problem; (2) evaluate the adequacy of assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and management of acute and chronic pain; (3) identify barriers to appropriate pain care; and (4) establish an agenda for action that will reduce such barriers and improve pain care research, education, and clinical care.
Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish the Pain Consortium to: (1) establish a national agenda for research on the causes and effective treatments for pain; and (2) convene an annual conference of experts in pain research, treatment, and management to assess and make recommendations on NIH pain research activities and programs. Requires the Director of NIH to establish the National Pain Care Research Advisory Committee.
Requires the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to: (1) collect protocols and evidence-based practices regarding pain care at all stages of life; and (2) disseminate such information to regulatory and enforcement agencies, health care programs, payor and providers, health professions schools, hospices, and the general public.
Allows the Secretary to provide for the development and implementation of programs to educate and train health care professionals in pain care.
Requires the Secretary to establish a national pain care education outreach and awareness campaign.
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