The Chronic Illness Advocacy & Awareness Group, Inc. (CIAAG) is a patient rights organization focused on ensuring the clinical research being funded by NIH, PCORI and it's related agencies, under the direction of the National Pain Strategy, the HEAL Initiative  and it's related work is performed in accordance to the International Agreement on Human Rights and informed consent.  In 2017, the FDA issued a waiver of informed consent for human clinical trials.  The opioid crisis has since been declared a public health emergency which has permitted human research to take place without the knowledge or consent of the individual. 

In 2010,  the Affordable Care Act (ACA) established a 15 person council within the Department of Health & Human Services to be known as the National Prevention, Health Promotion and Public Health Council.  This action resulted in a number of strategic plans to move forward at the Federal level to address pain as a public health problem.

In 2011, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published a report "Relieving Pain in America" which was to act as a blueprint for addressing the public health issues as they relate to pain management and the creation of opioid-sparing policies to be tested in the general public via pragmatic clinical trials. 

In response to the IOM report, a coalition of over 3 dozen organizations lobbied the federal government to change the standard of medical care from a biomedical approach to a biopsychosocial approach.   

Subsequently, the IOM's Report was used to create the "National Pain Strategy" which has outlined ambitious goals to address the social and economic issues surrounding pain care in America.  The recommendations laid out in the National Pain Strategy have been moving forward at the various federal agencies, including but not limited to:  AHRQ, CDC, FDA, NAM and PCORI; as well as numerous private-public partnerships.

As these federal programs have moved forward, there have been sharp increases in patient suffering, increased disability rates and increased suicide rates. Meanwhile, there has been little to no impact on individuals suffering with substance use disorder. 

CIAAG is working with the patient community and public-private stakeholders to ensure proper representation of those in need of pharmacological management of their painful diseases and conditions are provided without undue barriers including the numerous "try and fail/step therapy" recommendations outlined in the HHS Pain Management Inter-Agency Task Force report in 2019. 

NIH through the HEAL Initiative and the NIH Reporter are providing billions of dollars in funding to clinical researchers to study "pain" and "opioids." Unfortunately, we have seen serious abuses taking place under the name of these federal programs.  Particularly by the Organizations that were appointed to represent people with pains interest in the public health policy arena.

We have witnessed a great failure of the systems that were put in place to help improve public health and well-being.  CIAAG seeks to restore ethics and transparency in regard to the public health changes taking place to address both pain and opioid use in America. 

While research is of vital importance to address the complexities of pain care and drug abuse, we must ensure that human rights, civil rights, personal autonomy and informed consent are preserved in the process. 

*The following list to serve as an example of different types of disease groups/patient populations  that we support/represent and is not meant to be limited or exclusive to: