As of December 23, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had collected more than 500 public comments on its recently released draft guidelines for the prescribing of opioid pain medications for chronic pain, according to the Massachusetts Medical Society blog. Although the CDC has stated that the guidelines would be voluntary, a new federal law requires the Veterans Administration to adopt the final CDC guidelines as official policy. The American Medical Association has criticized the proposed guidelines, which include a preference for non-pharmacologic therapy and non-opioid pharmacologic therapy for chronic pain and recommend drug testing before starting opioid therapy, as being "devoid of a patient-centered view." The public comment period will end on January 13, 2016. Post