Senate passes bill to reduce opioid availability
The opioid epidemic is an ongoing fight.
The Substance Use-Disorder that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act passed the U.S. Senate by a vote of 91 to 1.
The House of Representatives passed the bipartisan bill targeting opioid addiction as well as increased treatment programs on September 28, 2018, by a vote of 393-8.
Dr. Daniel Meltzer, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Blue Cross of Idaho released the following statement.
“We applaud Congress for passing bipartisan legislation that addresses the scourge of opioids across our nation and here in Idaho. Reducing the availability of opioids, increasing treatment and recovery options and preventing the importation of certain drugs will help save lives and reduce opioid use. In August, Blue Cross of Idaho announced a new opioid strategy to minimize the number of days an opioid is prescribed, calibrate the strength of the prescribed opioid and require step-therapy. Overall, we’ve seen a 45-percent reduction in prescription opioid users since 2015.”
This Bill will specifically address opioid and other opioid-related drugs as well as monitoring of opioid substance abuse disorder. Specifically, the bill:
modifies provisions related to coverage for juvenile inmates and former foster care youth,
establishes a demonstration project to increase provider treatment capacity for substance use disorders,
requires the establishment of drug management programs for at-risk beneficiaries,
establishes drug review and utilization requirements,
extends the enhanced federal matching rate for expenditures regarding substance use disorder health home services, and
temporarily requires coverage of medication-assisted treatment.exempts substance use disorder telehealth services from specified requirements,
requires the initial examination for new enrollees to include an opioid use disorder screening,
modifies provisions regarding electronic prescriptions and post-surgical pain management,
requires prescription drug plan sponsors to establish drug management programs for at-risk beneficiaries, and
requires coverage for services provided by certified opioid treatment programs.
The bill also addresses other opioid-related issues. Specifically, the bill:
establishes and expands programs to support increased detection and monitoring of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, and
increases the maximum number of patients that healthcare practitioners may initially treat with medication-assisted treatment (i.e., under a buprenorphine waiver).
