House approves AHA-supported bills to address opioid epidemic

The House of Representatives last night approved seven AHA-supported bills as part of its legislative package to address the opioid epidemic. H.R. 4641 would establish an interagency task force to review, modify and update best practices for pain management and pain medication prescribing. The task force would include a hospital representative. H.R. 4982 and H.R. 4978 would require the Government Accountability Office to report on opioid use disorder treatment availability and need, and on the prevalence of neonatal abstinence syndrome and Medicaid coverage for the condition, respectively. H.R. 3680 would establish federal grants to implement co-prescribing of overdose reversal drugs in areas experiencing significant opioid abuse and deaths. H.R. 3691 would reauthorize residential treatment programs for pregnant and postpartum women and provide grants for states to address opioid dependency in infants. H.R. 4599 would permit schedule II prescriptions to be partially filled in certain circumstances. And H.R. 4976 would provide for more stringent Food and Drug Administration review of new opioids without abuse-deterrent properties, pediatric opioid labeling recommendations and prescriber education recommendations. The bills could be reconciled later this year with the Senate-passed Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (S. 524), also supported by the AHA.