WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) highlighted several provisions of the year-end appropriations bill to support state and local governments and law enforcement efforts to combat Ohio’s prescription drug epidemic.
“Drug abuse and opioid addiction have wreaked havoc on Ohio communities large and small throughout our state,” said Brown. “Local task forces and law enforcement play a critical role in monitoring drug abuse and carrying our residential treatment efforts. These efforts are important, but no single solution alone will end this epidemic. We must be comprehensive in our efforts and increase access to a variety of treatment options – including medication-assisted therapy.”
The appropriations bill provides:
Ohio experienced a record 2,110 fatal drug overdoses in 2013.
Brown is a cosponsor of legislation that would allow health care providers to treat larger numbers of patients struggling with addiction to opioids like painkillers and heroin. The Recovery Enhancement for Addiction Treatment Act (TREAT Act) would update U.S. law to enable qualified physicians to treat larger numbers of patients struggling with addiction and – for the first time – allow certain nurse practitioners and physician assistants to provide supervised, medication-assisted treatment for patients.
Current law limits the number of patients a health care provider can treat for opioid abuse problems using medication-assisted treatment programs. Physicians must meet specific conditions and apply for a special waiver to prescribe certain opioid addiction medications, like buprenorphine. They are restricted from treating more than 30 patients during their first year and limited to treating only 100 patients per year after their first year. This has left patients to languish on waiting lists for medically-assisted treatment and has created barriers to patient access to combination behavioral and medical treatment.
Specifically, the TREAT Act would:
Brown is also a cosponsor of the Jason Simcakoski Memorial Opioid Safety Act, legislation that would provide safer and more effective pain management services to our nation’s veterans. According to a 2011 study from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), patients seeking care at VA clinics are nearly twice as likely to die from accidental poisonings – frequently from opioid medications – when compared with patients outside the VA health system. The bill passed out of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
The Jason Simcakoski Memorial Opioid Safety Act focuses on strengthening the VA opioid prescribing guidelines and improving pain management services by:
In addition to improving opioid therapy and pain management, the bill would help strengthen patient advocacy, enhance VA hiring and internal audits, and expand access to complementary and integrative health and wellness. The bill is named for U.S. Marine Veteran Jason Simcakoski, who died at a Wisconsin VA facility in August 2013 as a result of mixed drug toxicity.
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