NOPAIN Act: Expand Access to Safe, Non-Opioid Options Now
As of January 1, 2025, the NOPAIN Act is in effect. Accordingly, patients and providers currently enjoy unfettered access to qualifying non-opioid products for outpatient surgical procedures.
However, our work is not done.
Voices – and our advocates – will continue to work to:
Extend the NOPAIN Act and Implement the Law as It Was Intended
The NOPAIN Act is currently slated to expire on December 31st, 2027, so extending this policy will be critically important. Additionally, Voices will continue to partner with Congress and the Administration to ensure that patients and providers can reasonably and easily access all available, qualifying, non-addictive products.
Fund Education and Awareness Programs
Resources exist – at both the state and federal level – to arm providers and patients with necessary information about non-addictive pain management options. Such resources should be leveraged to ensure that patients and providers have the necessary information to implement and utilize this policy to maximize its impact.
Study the Impact of the Policy Change
Voices will be working with Congress and the Administration to closely monitor how the law is being implemented and understand how hospitals, providers, and patients are responding to this policy change.
See below for additional information on these important topics.
By the Numbers: The Devastating Impact of the Opioid Addiction Crisis
- Approximately 2 out of 3 deaths, or 68%, of drug overdose deaths involved opioids in 2024.
- Over 13,000 overdose deaths involved prescription opioids in 2023.
- 90% of all surgical patients receive an opioid prescription annually.
- In 2023, 8.9 million people misused prescription opioids.
- The opioid epidemic costs the US nearly $1.5 trillion annually.
The NOPAIN Act Expands Access to Non-Opioids for Millions
The NOPAIN Act ensures that patients and their providers have greater choices in their pain management and supports broader efforts to combat the deadly effects of the opioid epidemic in our country.
- The NOPAIN Act expands patient and provider access to FDA-approved non-opioids in all outpatient surgical settings beginning in 2025 by providing separate Medicare reimbursement for non-opioid therapies.
- The NOPAIN Act requires a report to Congress on limitations, gaps, barriers to access, or deficits in Medicare coverage or reimbursement for therapeutic services.
Voices and our staff are committed to working with CMS to make sure that this law is implemented in the way it was intended – by ensuring patient access to all appropriate, FDA-approved products. A narrow interpretation of this law renders some such options inaccessible. See more of Voices’ work to make such options accessible:
Read our CY2026 OPPS Comment Letter to CMS HERE.
Read the Sign-On Letter to CMS for 2026 OPPS Rule HERE.
Funding Education and Awareness Programs
As part of a broader effort to ensure patients and providers are informed about non-addictive pain management options at both the state and federal level, Voices sent letters to the head of every state Department of Health encouraging them to use opioid settlement funds to develop and disseminate educational materials.
These resources would equip both providers and patients with critical information about the availability, efficacy, and appropriate use of non-opioid pain management options. Such collaboration ensures that stakeholders at all levels are informed and empowered to fully leverage these policy changes and reduce opioid use where safe and effective alternatives exist.
Read one of the letters HERE.
Do You Know Your Non-Opioid Paid Treatment Options?
See the available, qualifying, non-opioid acute pain solutions available for separate Medicare reimbursement under the NOPAIN Act HERE.