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:

  • $7 million for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program’s anti-heroin task force;
  • $12 million for Department of Justice (DOJ) grant programs that support state and local governments’ residential drug treatment efforts;
  • $13 million for prescription drug monitoring;
  • $42 million for drug courts; and
  • $70 million for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) state-based efforts program.

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:

  • Increase the number of patients providers are initially allowed to treat from 30 patients to 100 patients per year during their first year of certification for treatment;
  • Allow certain physicians to request removal of the limit on the number of patients they can treat after one year;
  • Allow qualified nurse practitioners and physician assistants to treat up to 100 patients per year; and
  • Require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to examine changes in treatment availability and utilization; quality of treatment programs; integration with routine healthcare services; diversion; impact on state level policies and legislation; and use of nurse practitioner and physician assistant prescribers.

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:

  • Requiring stronger opioid prescribing guidelines and education for VA providers, including stricter standards against prescribing dangerous combinations of opioids with other drugs and for prescribing opioids to patients struggling with mental health issues;
  • Increasing coordination and communication throughout the VA between medical facilities, providers, patients, and their families surrounding pain management, alternative treatments for chronic pain, and appropriate opioid therapy; and
  • Holding the VA system accountable for appropriate care and quality standards through consistent internal audits as well as GAO reviews and reports to Congress.

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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