Bipartisan federal legislation intended to aid the fight against opioid addiction includes provisions by Indiana’s two U.S. senators, who voted in favor of the bill that now awaits the president’s signature to become law.
Republican Todd Young and Democrat Joe Donnelly voted for the Substance Use Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act. The bill passed by a 98-1 vote Wednesday afternoon.
"The opioid crisis has been tearing apart individual lives of Hoosiers and the country, and impacting our ability to grow the economy at a greater rate," Young said.
Bartholomew County leaders last year began their own effort to address opioid abuse with creation of the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress, which focuses on prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery.
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Two appropriations bills that have been approved in Congress provide $8.5 billion to fight opioids in fiscal year 2018, Young said. The legislation passed Wednesday authorizes new programs to aid the fight.
“The opioid crisis is one of the most urgent health emergencies we face today. Congress has taken steps to help curb this epidemic by appropriating billions of dollars, and now passing this comprehensive legislation to better understand and treat opioid addiction," Young said.
"This bill provides important new tools to combat the opioid epidemic, and works to ensure that those providing prevention, treatment and recovery services in our communities have the resources necessary to help those in need of assistance,” Donnelly said.
The bill, originally called the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018, first passed the Senate by a 99-1 vote on Sept. 17. The House passed it with amendments, and the new name, by a 393-8 vote Sept. 28. Wednesday’s vote in the Senate approved the amended legislation.
Throughout the process, the bill has contained multiple provisions authored by Young and Donnelly. The bill that passed Wednesday includes three provisions introduced by both Young and Donnelly:
- Providing Clarity in the Development of Pain Treatment Act
- Advancing Innovation in Alternative Pain and Addiction Therapies Act
- Dr. Todd Graham Pain Management Act of 2018
They focus on expanding the use of non-opioid and non-addictive pain medications and treatments, and bringing them to the market and to patients faster.
"This is the holy grail of pain management, finding non-addictive drugs to manage pain," Young said, noting that opioids created by private companies to manage pain contributed to today’s opioid crisis.
The Advancing Innovation in Alternative Pain and Addiction Therapies Act will help streamline the Federal Drugs Administration’s approval process to bring non-addictive drugs and treatments to the market. Young said feedback he’d received was that the FDA’s rules were opaque and difficult to navigate, and better guidelines were needed.
The Dr. Todd Graham Pain management Improvement Act of 2018 is named for a South Bend doctor who was killed after refusing to prescribe an opioid. It aims to reduce the overprescribing of opioids with the use of non-opioid medications in Medicare.
Another Young provision that focuses on non-opioid and non-addictive pain medications and treatments is the Advancing Cutting-Edge (ACE) Research Act. It authorizes the National Institutes of Health to conduct research on innovative, non-addictive pain medications. Young said he heard from the NIH, including testimony from NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins, that the nation’s medical research agency faced barriers to conducting research and innovating in this area.
Young’s other two provisions in the bill are the:
- Jobs Plus Recovery Act
- Eliminating Opioid-Related Infectious Diseases Act of 2018
The Jobs Plus recovery Act incorporates job training into drug addiction recovery programs. The pilot program it creates is intended to give people with opioid addictions and people suffering from substance abuse disorders access to job training and support services as part of their recovery.
"There is a growing body of evidence … that job training and those who have gainful employment are less likely to relapse into addiction," Young said.
The Eliminating Opioid-Related Infectious Diseases Act of 2018 supports state and federal collection of data on drug-related infections, such as viral hepatitis and HIV, and aids in identifying and assisting patients who are at increased risk for infection.
Donnelly’s other provision in the bill would incentivize substance use disorder providers to work in areas that have high overdose rates, or a shortage of providers. It provides up to $250,000 in student loan relief in exchange for six years of service.
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Notable provisions of the Substance Use Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act include:
- Promotes access to recovery coaches for individuals dealing with substance abuse addiction
- Establishes and expands programs to support increased detection and monitoring of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids
- Expands the types of health care providers that are allowed to prescribe medication-assisted treatment
- Increases the maximum number of patients that health care practitioners may initially treat with medication-assisted treatment
- Creates stiffer penalties for drug manufacturers and distributors that overprescribe opioids
- Requires the initial examination for new Medicare enrollees to include an opioid use disorder screening
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