Meanwhile in the House…
Bill to battle opioid epidemic overwhelmingly passes the House
The House voted overwhelmingly on Friday in favor of a bill that sets new policies and reauthorizes hundreds of billions of dollars in federal grants in a bid to fight America's opioid epidemic.
A majority of the policies, though, focus primarily on improving access to addiction treatment. A 2016 federal survey found that only one in 10 Americans with an addiction get treatment.
In addition to reauthorized grant funding, the legislation codifies an increase in the number of prescriptions a doctor can make for the drug buprenorphine, which is used to treat addiction, from 100 to 275. It also expands the type of healthcare provider that can prescribe the treatment, including nurse practitioners.
The legislation would repay student loans for people that agree to work in substance abuse treatment, and repeals a decades-old rule that prohibits hospitals from caring for more than 16 patients with drug abuse and mental health.
The legislation also requires Medicaid to cover all types of medication assisted treatment used to treat addiction, which include buprenorphine and methadone.
Currently, under Medicaid rules, hospitals cannot allow more than 16 patients with mental illnesses or addictions to stay at the hospital. Going over this limit endangers Medicaid reimbursements for the facility.
The STOP Act, included in the package, gives the U.S. Postal Service more tools to identify shipments of illicit fentanyl from overseas. The information could then be sent to customs agents to seize the shipments.
Congress found earlier this year that it is incredibly easy to buy fentanyl online, with a majority of the shipments of the powerful painkiller coming from China.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healthcare/bill-to-battle-opioid-epidemic-overwhelmingly-passes-the-house