A new national strategy has been launched to help Australians living with chronic pain.

The strategy would give access to 20 new Medicare-funded services, and contains a proposal for a new pain medicine certificate that would encourage doctors to prescribe fewer drugs to deal with pain.

It hopes to redirect those patients into exercise and psychological management strategies.

Reports say doctors would be able to access the certificate through six months of study, and a new website is on the way to educate people more broadly about managing pain without drugs.

Pain Australia developed the strategy with federal government funding.

It will be presented at a Council of Australian Governments' meeting in the coming weeks.

One-in-five Australians lives with chronic pain, but that rate rises to one-in-three for people over 65.

Pain Australia chief executive Carol Bennett says doctors need to update their knowledge of new techniques to help people deal with pain.

“This plan sets out about 50 activities that could be undertaken now to better address pain management in the community but giving people access to the sorts of services, particularly multi-disciplinary care, that we know is best practice,” she told reporters.

The plan would give people access to a public database listing the health professionals that have completed the new pain course.

It also allows doctors to access special Medicare rebates if they have completed the program.