House Energy & Commerce Sends 25 Opioid Bills to House Floor
This week, the House Energy & Commerce Committee passed 25 opioid related pieces of legislation to the floor of the House of Representatives. This was just the first of two mark-up hearings the committee will have on whether to send more than 50 opioid bills to the floor in total.
One of the bills that passed this week included H.R. 3528, The Every Prescription Conveyed Securely Act. The bill would require e-prescribing for coverage of prescription drugs that are controlled substance under Medicare Part D. When the bill was initially brought to the committee it did not include exclusions for skilled nursing facility (SNF) residents. The Society, along with other long-term care organizations, wrote letters to the committee urging them to include exceptions for hospice and SNF residents. Those exclusions were added during a previous mark-up hearing and the bill passed as amended. The companion bill (S. 2460) already included those exemptions and is currently in the Senate Finance committee. Senate leaders hope to merge all the opioid packages, so they can bring one package to the floor by this summer.
Other bills included the Better Pain Management Through Better Data Act of 2018, which requires FDA to establish criteria for collecting information about opioid sparing to be included on drug labels. The Securing Opioids and Unused Narcotics with Deliberate Disposal and Packaging (SOUND) Act of 2018, sponsored by North Carolina Representatives Richard Hudson (R), G.K. Butterfield (D) and Ted Budd (R), which directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to work with drug manufacturers to establish programs for return or destruction of unused opioids.
The committee also voted to pass HR 5009 Jessie’s Law, which will ensure medical professionals have access to a consenting patient’s complete health history when making treatment decisions by requiring the HHS to develop and disseminate best practices regarding the prominent display of substance use disorder (SUD) history in patient records of patients who have previously provided this information to a health care provider.
The committee added an amendment to Jessie’s Law clarifying certain Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules. The amendment requires the HHS secretary to develop guidance to health care providers clarifying under what circumstances HIPAA allows them to disclose information about emergencies and overdoses to a patient’s family members and caregivers.
The Committee will hold its second markup on opioid legislation on May 17th.