U.S. Reps. Jackie Walorski (R-IN), Carlos Curbelo (R-FL), and Mike Bishop (R-MI), members of the House Ways and Means Committee, this week queried the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary on how to stop America’s ravaging and ongoing opioid addiction health emergency.
The lawmakers, at a Feb. 14 full committee hearing on the HHS fiscal year (FY) 2019 budget request, also urged HHS Secretary Alex Azar during questioning to utilize several tools to end an epidemic that continues to claim young lives.
For instance, Rep. Walorski advised that Azar determine how to improve communication between state prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) databases so cross-state data sharing could be handled more effectively to prevent doctors from over-prescribing opioids, and to hasten identification of addicts in need of treatment.
Relatedly, Walorski said a group of doctors in her 2nd Congressional District of Indiana seek funding for the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting (NASPER) program, which provides a patient’s complete medical history for any prescribed controlled medications.
“While state PDMPs are important, [the doctors] have trouble with a group of patients that either live across a border in Michigan, or they’re around the entire U.S. for various reasons,” Walorski said. “Having up-to-date patient information would empower providers to deny inappropriate treatments or recommend addiction treatments to be started based on what they discover.”
Rep. Walorski also advocated for H.R. 3920, a bill she introduced on Oct. 3, 2017 with U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) that would require the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to establish a three-year demonstration project to study interest-free payments under Medicare Part A. The bill is awaiting consideration by the House Committees on Ways and Means, and Energy and Commerce.
“I have a hospital in my district that has implemented this concept of interest-free payments and have seen improved patient satisfaction, improved health outcomes, and a reduction of bad debts,” Walorski said in asking if the model might be worthwhile for HHS to consider. Azar said it would be.
Rep. Curbelo highlighted that the HHS FY2019 budget requests authority for the department to collaborate with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to revoke a provider’s certificate, thereby removing a provider’s ability to prescribe controlled substances. “How does this process work now and how would this authority help the Secretary – your office – combat the opioid epidemic?” Curbelo asked.
Secretary Azar explained that if given such authority, whenever HHS banned a provider within the Medicare system, the information would immediately be transferred to the DEA, which also would ban the provider from the Controlled Substances Prescribing System. “This would make it automatic that it could go over to the DEA and we can be in-sync around banning providers, so that when we identify a pill writer, a pill mill, it goes right over and their license is cut off on that side also,” Azar said.
Rep. Bishop followed up on the HHS-DEA collaboration and questioned Azar about how the relationship could be enhanced. Azar, who said he’s still learning about the deep connections between the two federal agencies, outlined three areas of focus for them: the prescribing of legal opioids and finding alternative pain management; examining state regulation of pharmacies; and working on ways to control the entry point of pills into society via bad practices.
Rep. Bishop also stressed the need for educating Americans on opioid abuse. “Each one of us engaged our community in some way, shape or form, whether it’s a town hall meeting or just a session with professionals, to talk with parents about the issue of the opioid crisis,” Bishop said, asking Azar for ideas on “ways in which we can all be involved in addressing the crisis.”
Azar assured Bishop that HHS could provide information for constituent meetings, adding, “It is a devastating crisis and we are going to be working to educate the country more through our budget also.”