Senate Finance Opens Inquiry into Financial Relationships Between Opioid Manufacturers and Tax Exempt Organizations

WASHINGTON – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) sent letters to 10 tax-exempt organizations, including pain advocacy groups, professional associations and medical associations, requesting information about their financial relationship with opioid manufacturers and other medical entities.

“We write to request information regarding your organization and its financial relationship with opioid manufacturers and other entities that manufacture products to treat pain. As Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, we have a responsibility to ensure transparency and accountability in matters that directly affect Federal healthcare programs and tax-exempt organizations. This responsibility includes examining the extent to which pharmaceutical manufacturers fund tax-exempt organizations and how these payments may influence pain treatment practices and policy,” the senators wrote.

“We acknowledge that the answer to the opioid epidemic continues to be anything but simple. However, we believe that it is important to shed light on these financial relationships to ensure transparency and accountability in matters that affect Federal healthcare programs and the patients that participate in them.”

The letters were sent to the following:

·       American Chronic Pain Association 

·       American Pain Society

·       American Society for Pain Management Nursing

·       American Society of Pain Educators

·       Center for Practical Bioethics

·       Federation of State Medical Boards

·       The Joint Commission

·       American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

·       Alliance for Patient Access

·       International Association for the Study of Pain

Among other things, the letters ask for complete Forms 990 from 2012 to present, including Schedule Bs, “detailed accounting of all payments/transfers received from any opioid manufacturers or distributors,  and descriptions of any collaborative activities with manufacturers or distributors.

Darryll K. Jones