ASAM Applauds Important Step by Obama Administration and Calls for Increased Congressional Pressure to Expand Treatment Access

Chevy Chase, MD, March 29, 2016 – Today, President Obama announced additional public and private sector actions to help address the devastating prescription opioid and heroin epidemic. The President announced that The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a new proposed rule to increase the current patient limit for qualified physicians who prescribe buprenorphine to treat opioid addiction. The proposed rule will increase the patient limit from 100 to 200 patients for physicians who have been trained and waivered for over a year to prescribe buprenorphine. Furthermore, the proposed rule recommends adherence to nationally recognized evidence-based guidelines and includes ASAM’s National Practice Guideline for the Use of Medications in the Treatment of Addiction Involving Opioid Use.

ASAM has long been an advocate for raising or eliminating the patient limit for buprenorphine prescribers. We are pleased that the Obama Administration has released this rule. “Increasing the buprenorphine cap to 200 patients is an important first step by the Obama Administration,” said Dr. Jeffrey Goldsmith, President of ASAM. “The American Society of Addiction Medicine believes it is vital to continue pressuring Congress to assure that access to treatment is increased through legislation.” ASAM will continue to advocate for increased access to addiction medicine on Capitol Hill and work with our members to submit comments on the proposed rule by the deadline on May 30, 2016.

Today’s announced initiatives are centered on access and quality of medication-assisted treatment (MAT), an integral part of ASAM’s mission. HHS released $94 million in new funding to 271 Community Health Centers across the country to increase access to treatment, specifically MAT for opioid addiction. This funding will help treat 124,000 new patients with addiction. Additionally, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is releasing $11 million in new funding for up to 11 states to expand access to MAT and distributing 10,000 SAMHSA pocket guides for clinicians to prescribe MAT for opioid addiction and integrate MAT with non-pharmacologic therapies.

Other actions taken by the public and private sector include: a Presidential Memorandum creating an interagency task force to ensure compliance with the best practices for mental health and addiction parity implementation; a rule from HHS requiring Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) plans to offer mental health and addiction treatment at parity; $11 million in funding from SAMHSA for states to purchase, distribute and train individuals on naloxone; and more than 60 medical schools will require their students to take prescriber education in line with the newly released CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain starting this fall. The full list of actions can be read in the White House press release. The President’s speech at the National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit in Atlanta can be viewed here.

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