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On Wednesday, the United States Senate accomplished a rare feat – passing a bipartisan bill with a vote of 98-1. The bill now heads to President Donald Trump’s desk, following the vote in the Senate and a prior vote in the House of Representatives of 393-8.  This legislation adds multiple resources to the opioid epidemic as well as restrictions intended to aid in the fight against the spread of the epidemic. The bill is a combination of dozens of smaller proposals sponsored by hundreds of lawmakers. Here are some of the 41 key components of the Opioid Package (H.R. 6):

Law Enforcement

  • Reauthorization of Key Law Enforcement Programs (Section 8205-8212) – Reauthorizes law enforcement programs through the Office of National Drug Control Policy, such as programs such as the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area programs, drug courts, COPS Anti-Meth Program, and COPS anti-heroin task force program;
  • First Responder Training (Section 7002) – Expands first responder training, authorized through the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, to include training on safety around fentanyl and other synthetic and dangerous substances;
  • Public Health Laboratories Detecting Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids (Section 7011) – Improves coordination between public health laboratories and laboratories operated by law enforcement to improve detection of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids;
  • Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention (Section 8006, 8007) – Improves Federal agencies ability to detect synthetic opioids and other substances from entering the United States through the mail;
  • Opioid Addiction Recovery Fraud Prevention (Sections 8021-8023) – Subjects those who engage in unfair or deceptive acts with respect to substance use disorder treatment services or substance use disorder treatment products to civil penalties for first time violations by the FTC; includes a savings clause for existing FTC and FDA authorities.
  • Reauthorization of the comprehensive opioid abuse grant program (Section 8092) – Reauthorize the comprehensive opioid abuse grant program at the Department of Justice;

Ending Illegal Patient Brokering

  • Criminal penalties (Section 8122) – This provision makes it illegal to pay or receive kickbacks in return for referring a patient to recovery homes or clinical treatment facilities;

Healthcare Integration

  • Treatment, Education, and Community Help To Combat Addiction (Section 7101) – Expands medical education and training resources for healthcare providers to better address addiction, pain, and the opioid crisis;
  • Preventing Overdoses While in Emergency Rooms (Section 7081) – Improves emergency departments ability to effectively screen, treat, and connect substance use disorder patients with care;
  • Alternatives to Opioids in the Emergency Department (Section 7091) – Explores alternative pain management protocols in order to limit the use of opioid medications in emergency departments;
  • Inclusion of opioid addiction history in patient records (Section 7051) – Requires HHS to develop best practices for prominently displaying substance use disorder treatment information in electronic health records, when requested by the patient;

Treatment Capacity Expansion

  • IMD CARE Act (Section 5052) – Expands Medicaid coverage up to 30 days for individuals between 21 and 65 years old receiving care in a treatment facility for all substance use disorders, lifting the 16 bed restriction;  
  • Expansion of Telehealth Services (Section 1009, 2001, 3232) – Expands access to substance use disorder treatment and other services through the use of telehealth;
  • Comprehensive Opioid Recovery Centers (Section 7121) – Establishes model comprehensive treatment and recovery centers to ensure individuals have access to quality treatment and recovery services;
  • Supporting family-focused residential treatment (Section 8081, 8083) – Enhanced family-focused residential treatment; $20 million in funding for HHS to award to states to develop, enhance, or evaluate family-focused treatment programs to increase the number of evidence-based programs;

Medication Assisted Treatment

  • More Flexibility for Prescribing Medication Assisted Treatment (Section 3201, 3202) – Increases the number of waivered health care providers that can prescribe or dispense treatment for substance use disorders, such as certified nurses and accredited physicians;
  • Grants to enhance access to substance use disorder treatment (Section 3203) – authorizes grants to support the development of curriculum that will help health care practitioners obtain a waiver to prescribe MAT;
  • Delivery of a Controlled Substance by a Pharmacy to be Administered by Injection or Implantation (Section 3204) – Allows pharmacies to deliver implantable or injectable medications to treat substance use disorders directly to health care providers;
  • Expanding Access to Medication in In-Patient Facilities (Section 5052) – Expanded Medicaid coverage up to 30 days for inpatient facilities applies to providers who provide a minimum of two types of medicines to treat opioid use disorder;

Prescription Medication Safety and Disposal

  • Empowering Pharmacists in the Fight Against Opioid Abuse (Section 3212) – Develops and disseminates training resources to help pharmacists better detect fraudulent attempts to fill prescription medications;
  • Safe Disposal of Unused Medication (Section 3222) – Allows hospice workers to dispose of unused medications on site or in patients homes;
  • Access to Increased Drug Disposal (Section 3251-3260) – Awards grants to states to enhances access of prescription drug disposal programs;    
  • Safety-enhancing Packaging and Disposal Features (Section 3032) – Requires certain opioids to be packaged into 3 or 7 day supplies and requires safe prescription drug disposal options to be given to patients upon receiving medications;

“We have an urgent, bipartisan consensus, a virtually unanimous agreement, to deal with the most urgent public health epidemic facing our country today in virtually every community,” said Senator Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate health committee and lead sponsor of the bill.

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