The definition of Intractable Pain used for administering the program was developed from a statutory definition of intractable pain in the 2014 Minnesota Statutes, 152.125 Intractable Pain.

When a health care practitioner certifies a patient for intractable pain, they are certifying the patient meets this definition, "pain whose cause cannot be removed and, according to generally accepted medical practice, the full range of pain management modalities appropriate for this patient has been used without adequate result or with intolerable side effects."