Lawmakers seek information on curbing opioid addiction in Medicare
Summary and Analysis…
In February, the House Ways and Means Committee requested information from the Inspector General of the Health and Human Services on the extreme use and questionable prescribing practices of opioids in Medicare Part D.
“The Ways and Means Committee is one of several groups of lawmakers examining measures to clamp down on the opioid epidemic, which saw rates of overdose deaths jump nearly 28 percent from 2015 to 2016.”
The Senate has also suggested a revision to a law passed in 2016, The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act.
Both of these initiatives are seek to help solve opioid abuse and overdose deaths that have become a national crisis.
Excerpted from The Hill
Top Republicans and Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee are requesting information from critical stakeholders on how to prevent and treat opioid addiction in Medicare, as the panel seeks to craft bipartisan legislation to curb the opioid epidemic.
Specifically, they’re asking insurers, benefit managers, providers and prescribers to submit information on how the Medicare program can help stem the opioid epidemic — noting that one in three beneficiaries in Medicare’s prescription drug program received a prescription opioid in 2016
