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Action Requested: Support The TREAT Act
Call your representatives to support the passage of The Recovery Enhancement for Addiction Treatment (TREAT) Act. The TREAT Act, which helps expand access to addiction treatment and build healthier communities, was reintroduced in both the House and the Senate this legislative session.
In the Senate, the bill is being championed by a bipartisan group of Senators led by Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Rand Paul (R-KY). A companion bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY), Richard Hanna (R-NY), Paul Tonko (D-NY) and John Katko (R-NY).
The TREAT Act is designed to expand the ability of addiction medicine specialists and other clinicians to prescribe life-saving medication to patients struggling with addiction to heroin and other opioids. The bill will expand access to medications that have been proven effective at treating opioid addiction by increasing the number of patients a provider is initially allowed to treat from 30 to 100 patients per year, and removing the patient cap entirely after one year for qualified physicians. Specifically, the bill allows nurse practitioners and physician assistants to treat up to 100 patients per year as long as they are licensed in a state that already allows them to prescribe controlled substances, complete approved training on opioid addiction treatment and are supervised by a physician or work with a physician who is also approved to prescribe opioid addiction medication.
In addition to immediately expanding access to treatment for patients suffering from heroin and opioid addiction, the legislation also requires the GAO to examine changes in treatment availability, the quality of treatment programs, integration with routine healthcare services, prevalence of diversion, the impact on the state-policies and legislation and the use of nurse practitioner and physician’s assistant prescribers.
ASAM has officially endorsed the bill in both the House and the Senate and would like to ask for the continued support of our members as this bill moves forward and is hopefully signed into law. Please reach out to your Senators and Representative, either as a chapter or as individuals, to encourage them to co-sponsor and vote for this life-saving initiative, or to thank them for their sponsorship.
