House Energy & Commerce Republicans want HHS status report on implementing opioid-fighting law

Republican leaders on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee want to know why a key provision of an anti-opioid law hasn’t yet been implemented.

U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Greg Walden (R-OR) in June 2018 sponsored the bipartisan Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act, H.R. 6, the historic, Energy and Commerce Committee-led bill signed into law in October 2018 to combat the nation’s opioid crisis.

A provision in the SUPPORT Act required the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to create an online public dashboard that provides information on federal resources and programs addressing substance use disorder.

But the dashboard hasn’t yet been established, according to an Aug. 28 letter sent by Reps. Walden, Health Subcommittee Republican Leader Michael Burgess (R-TX), Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Republican Leader Bob Latta (R-OH), and Oversight and Investigations Republican Leader Brett Guthrie (R-KY) to Dr. Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health at HHS.

“It is critically important for HHS to establish the substance use disorder information dashboard,” the lawmakers wrote.

The dashboard is intended to provide links to information on programs within HHS related to reducing opioid and other substance use disorders, “along with access to the publicly available data from HHS agencies and other relevant entities such as medical experts, nonprofit organizations, law enforcement, and research institutions,” according to their letter.

Additionally, the dashboard is supposed to provide prevention and treatment strategies; identify information on alternatives to controlled substances for pain management; and identify guidelines and best practices for health care providers on substance use disorders, the congressmen wrote.

“The opioid crisis is devastating our country, undermining our social structures, and eroding our economic productivity,” the Republican leaders wrote. “The information dashboard authorized in section 7021 of the SUPPORT Act is a much-needed tool for the patients and families we represent, and it will help further turn the tide in our fight against this crisis.”