Qualified physicians soon will be allowed to provide medication-assisted treatment (MAT) with buprenorphine to nearly triple the number of patients under a new rule by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
The rule, announced by the Health & Human Services department on July 6, allows qualified practitioners to prescribe buprenorphine to up to 275 patients, up from the previous limit of 100. Raising the cap will mean treatment of 10,000-70,000 more patients within the first year, according to HHS. The rule takes effect Aug. 5.
Courtesy HHS
Sylvia Burwell
In addition, HHS plans to eliminate pain management questions from the payment scoring calculation of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey. The removal aims to relieve pressure on clinicians to overprescribe opioids since scores on the HCAHPS survey are tied to Medicare payments to hospitals. Hospitals would continue to use the questions to survey patients about their inpatient pain management experience, but the questions would not affect the level of payment that hospitals receive, HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell said during a press conference. The changes are part of a number of steps announced by HHS to build on the agency’s Opioid Initiative.
“Together, these announcements will help us take additional steps forward,” Ms. Burwell said. “They increase access to help more people receive the evidence-based treatment they need. They help providers safely prescribe while helping their patients manage chronic pain, and they fill in the gaps of our understanding of this epidemic and how best to fight it.”
The agency also released a report on ongoing, federally funded opioid misuse and pain treatment research. The report is designed to help stakeholders and external funders of research in avoiding unnecessary duplication of research currently underway, according to HHS. The agency plans to launch more than a dozen new scientific studies on opioid misuse and pain treatment in the near future, Ms. Burwell said.
Another new rule mandates that Indian Health Service (IHS) clinicians and pharmacists check their state Prescription Drug Monitoring Program database prior to prescribing or dispensing any opioid for more than 7 days. The new policy is effective immediately for IHS clinicians authorized to prescribe opioids.
Amid the new steps, Secretary Burwell and others called on Congress to approve the President Obama’s proposed $1.1 billion in new funding to further address prescription opioid abuse and heroin use. Legislators are meeting July 6 to weigh final legislation aimed at the opioid epidemic, but have thus far, not fully supported the president’s proposed funding. In a July 5 letter, Democrats vowed to oppose the bill unless it included more money to treat addicted patients.
“If you want treatment for an opioid use disorder, you should be able to access it when you need it,” Michael Botticelli, director of National Drug Control Policy said during the press conference. “There is still time for Congress to do what’s right.”