Executive Summary
According to the National Institutes of Health, 126.1 million adults in the U.S. (or 40.1% of the population) report experiencing some pain in the previous 3 months, with 25.3 million (or 8.1%) suffering from chronic pain and 23.4 million (or 7.4%) reporting high pain levels (Nahin, 2015). According to the American Pain Society, the direct and indirect costs of pain in the U.S. total between $560 billion and $635 billion, with direct healthcare costs accounting for 47% and indirect costs such as lost worker productivity accounting for the remaining 53%. Pain-related costs exceed those of heart disease ($309 billion), cancer ($243 billion), and diabetes ($188 billion) (Gaskin, 2012).