April 14, 2020  | 

Addiction Policy Update – March 2020 to April 2020

HEALTH POLICY

Opioids

On March 3, the House Energy and Commerce Committee Health Subcommittee held a hearing on a variety of legislation addressing opioid misuse and overdoses. The bills considered included:

• H.R. 1329, the “Medicaid Reentry Act”
• H.R. 2281, the “Easy MAT for Opioid Addiction Act”
• H.R. 2466, the “State Opioid Response Grant Authorization Act”
• H.R. 2482, the “Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act of 2019”
• H.R. 2922, the “Respond to the Needs in the Opioid War Act” or the “Respond NOW Act”
• H.R. 3414, the “Opioid Workforce Act of 2019”
• H.R. 3878, the “Block, Report, And Suspend Suspicious Shipments Act of 2019”
• H.R. 4141, the “Humane Correctional Health Care Act”
• H.R. 4793, the “Budgeting for Opioid Addiction Treatment Act”
• H.R. 4812, the “Ensuring Compliance Against Drug Diversion Act of 2019”
• H.R. 4814, the “Suspicious Order Identifying Act of 2019”
• H.R. 4974, the “Medication Access and Training Expansion Act of 2019” or the “MATE Act of 2019”
• H.R. 5572, the “Family Support Services for Addiction Act of 2020”
• H.R. 5631, the “Solutions Not Stigmas Act of 2019”

Additionally, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee may hold a hearing on substance use bills, and particularly potential changes to federal privacy protections for addiction treatment later this spring.

Holly Strain and Carol McDaid of Capitol Decisions have generously provided the information used for this Policy Update.