Join at 3:00pm for CEPOP’s February All-Participants Call: Focus Topic on Principles for Funding from Opioid Litigation
CEPOP will be hosting its February All-Participants Teleconference this afternoon at 3:00pm ET. We’re pleased, as always, to have fantastic focus topic speakers joining us to discuss critical components of the national response to combat the opioid epidemic. With a packed agenda, we’ll cover some of CEPOP’s most pressing policy and advocacy priorities for 2021 and review ongoing developments by Congressional and federal agency partners to combat prescription and illicit opioid misuse, abuse and diversion.
CEPOP All-Participants Teleconference (February 2021)
- To join WebEx, please CLICK HERE
- Or, to join via conference call:
- Conference Line: (855) 244-8681
- Participant Code: 299 655 082
CEPOP Endorses Bipartisan Legislation Requiring Providers Discuss Opioid Risks with Patients
Last week, CEPOP endorsed bipartisan legislation introduced by Representatives David Trone (D-MD), Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM) and David McKinley (R-WV). The Opioid Patients’ Right to Know Act would establish a grant program for status that require healthcare providers to discuss opioid risks and non-opioid alternatives with their acute pain patients. States with this requirement in place would be eligible to receive grant funding to help raise providers’ awareness of the requirement. By making these funds available only to states with these requirements, the bill sponsors hope to incentivize additional states to require healthcare providers to talk to their patients about the addictive nature of opioids when they receive a prescription for these drugs. The bill is also supported by Prevent Opioid Abuse (POA), Mothers Against Prescription Drug Abuse (MAPDA), Partnership to End Addiction, Shatterproof, Addiction Policy Forum, FED UP!, Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP), and Voices for Non-Opioid Choices.
Articles & Resources
Representative David Trone – Rep. Trone Introduces Bipartisan Legislation to Help Prevent Opioid Addiction
Two Bills Reintroduced to Address Controlled Substance Registrations and Prescription Opioid Labeling
Last week, two opioid bills that had been previously introduced in the last Congress were reintroduced in the House. Representative Bob Latta (R-OH-05) reintroduced the Debarment Enforcement of Bad Actor Registrants (DEBAR) Act, which would permanently prohibit Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) registrants who have violated the Controlled Substance Act (CSA) and have had their registrations revoked from receiving a new registration to manufacture, distribute and dispense controlled substances. In a press release, Representative Latta noted, “The DEBAR Act prohibits bad actors from registering for a controlled substance to help stop the illegal flow of opioids across our country.” Representative Greg Stanton (D-AZ-09) also reintroduced the Lessening Addiction by Enhancing Labeling (LABEL) Opioids Act, which would amend the CSA to require warning labels noting that opioids may cause dependence, addiction or overdose be added to dispensed opioid bottles. In a press release, Representative Stanton said, “Responsible, common-sense labeling practices are an important step toward educating patients about the risks of opioid misuse. Too many fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters are prescribed what seem like safe prescription painkillers, and instead of getting on the road to recovery they are put on a path to addiction.”
Articles & Resources
Representative Greg Stanton – Stanton Continues to Fight against Opioid Crisis, Reintroduces Bill to Require Prescription Warning Labels
Representative Bob Latta – Latta Leads Legislation to Improve Access to Mental Health Services and Combat the Opioid Epidemic
H.R. 4806 – DEBAR Act
H.R. 2732 – LABEL Opioids Act
What We Read Last Week
Several articles were published last week pertaining to the opioid epidemic, covering a variety of different components of the issue. Links to relevant articles are provided below.
Articles & Resources
Bloomberg Government – Medicare’s Addiction Coverage Gaps Prompt Calls for Change
Chicago Tribune – ‘We shouldn’t even have to have this conversation’: Woman recovering from opioid addiction sues to get methadone treatment in DuPage County Jail
Critical Care Medicine – Opioid Use After Intensive Care: A Nationwide Cohort Study
FDA – FDA issues warning to AcelRx for making false and misleading claims about the risks and benefits of Dsuvia
Healio – Q&A: Physicians improve buprenorphine access for the homeless amid COVID-19
Health Affairs – COVID-19 Converges With The Opioid Epidemic: Challenges For Pregnant And Postpartum Women With Opioid Use Disorder
JAMA Open Network – Trends in Low-Value Health Service Use and Spending in the US Medicare Fee-for-Service Program, 2014-2018
Law360 – Parents Ask Judge To Rethink Cert. Denial For ‘Opioid Babies’
Legal Action Center – Medicare Coverage of Substance Use Disorder Care: A Landscape Review of Benefit Coverage, Service Gaps and a Path to Reform
Medium – Revolutionizing the Treatment for Babies Withdrawing From Opioids
NPR – As Addiction Deaths Surge, Profit-Driven Rehab Industry Faces ‘Severe Ethical Crisis’
PAIN – Assessing reasons for decreased primary care access for individuals on prescribed opioids an audit study
Penn Medicine – High Patient Uptake for Text Message System Monitoring Opioid Use in Real-Time
STAT – As the pandemic ushered in isolation and financial hardship, overdose deaths reached new heights
The Associated Press – Doctors who say no to opioid use face threats from patients
The Hill – Drug overdose crisis worsens in shadow of COVID-19 pandemic
The Hill – Portman, Whitehouse say COVID-19 is complicating opioid addiction fight
The Pew Charitable Trusts – Opioid Deaths Spark Push to Ease Buprenorphine Rules
U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut – Dominican National Sentenced to 46 Months in Federal Prison for Role in Waterbury Drug Ring
U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina – Wilmington Man Receives 13 Years In Federal Prison for Drug Distribution
University of Michigan – New hope for treating chronic pain without opioids
This Week’s Calendar
- Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Nomination of Xavier Becerra to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services
Tuesday, February 23rd, 10:00am - Senate Committee on Finance
Hearing to Consider the Nomination of Xavier Becerra, of California, to be Secretary of Health and Human Services
Wednesday, February 24th, 2:30pm - Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Nominations of Vivek Murthy to serve as Medical Director in the Regular Corps of the Public Health Service and Surgeon General of the Public Health Service, and Rachel Levine to serve as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services
Thursday, February 25th, 10:00am
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