House passes sweeping opioid legislation

The House of Representatives passed a broad bipartisan measure Friday to combat the opioid crisis by a vote of 396-14. The Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act (H.R. 6) combines over 50 bills individually approved by the House to reform Medicare and Medicaid to expand access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder, encourage development of non-opioid drugs and increase monitoring and management programs.

One of the bills included in the latest package, H.R. 5809, would create a pass-through payment extension under Medicare to encourage the development of non-opioid drugs. Another bill, H.R. 5675, would require prescription drug plan sponsors under Medicare to establish drug management programs for at-risk beneficiaries. H.R. 5776 would provide access to MAT under Medicare through bundled payments made to opioid treatment programs for holistic service. H.R. 3528 would require e-prescribing for certain controlled substances under Medicare Part D...