Compromise legislation to address the opioid epidemic has overwhelmingly passed both houses of Congress and been sent to President Obama, who has signaled that he will sign it begrudgingly.
“We continue to believe this bill falls far short,” according to a statement from the White House. “That’s why the administration strongly supported Democratic efforts to add $920 million in funding for states to provide treatment for Americans struggling with opioid addiction. ... While the president will sign this bill once it reaches his desk because some action is better than none, he won’t stop fighting to secure the resources this public health crisis demands.”
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The final version of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (S. 534) passed the House by a 407-5 vote and the Senate by a 92-2 vote.
The legislation allows the Health & Human Services Department to make training and education grants to address opioid addiction, as well as grants to address opioid abuse locally. HHS may also make grants to states to help pay for opioid overdose–reversal programs. It also provides $50 million over 5 years to improve state-level prescription drug-monitoring programs.
S. 524 also allows the Department of Justice to develop programs to combat opioid abuse in a number of ways. Grants would fund alternatives to incarceration programs, train first responders in using opioid overdose–reversal medications, create more prescription take-back programs, and investigative activities related to unlawful distribution of opioids.
The bill also expands access to medication-assisted treatment of opioid abuse/addiction by extending prescribing authority to certain specially trained nurse practitioners and physician assistants. It also allows Medicare Parts C and D to develop safe prescribing and dispensing programs, such as “lock-in” programs that require beneficiaries at risk for substance abuse to use a single designated source for opioid prescriptions. The legislation also has a number of provisions aimed specifically at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
In a statement, the American College of Physicians highlighted a few additional provisions that it supported, including the development of a federal task force to identify best practices for pain management and prescribing pain medication; expanding grants to education physician and other stakeholders on the risks of opioid misuse; improvements to the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program; increased availability of opioid overdose–reversal medication; and expansion of the use of partial fills for opioid prescriptions.
“This legislation takes important steps to address the growing crisis and to provide patients with greater access to care and treatment they need to deal with substance use disorders,” Nitin Damle, MD, ACP president, said in a statement.