October 04, 2018

Warren Applauds Final Senate Passage of Bipartisan Legislation to Address Opioid Crisis

Bipartisan Bill Including Several Warren Priorities is Set to Become Law

Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) applauded the final Senate passage of bipartisan legislation combat the opioid crisis. 
The legislation, which is set to be signed by President Trump, contains several of Senator Warren’s bipartisan efforts to address the epidemic, including:
  • Disposal of Controlled Substances by Hospice Care Providers: This provision, which is based on Senator Warren’s bipartisan Hospice Safe Drug Disposal Act, will allow hospice care providers to safely and properly dispose of leftover prescription opioid medications in order to reduce diversion and misuse of prescription medications, and will require a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study of hospice safe drug disposal management.
  • Recovery Housing Best Practices: This provision is based on Senator Warren’s Ensuring Access to Quality Living Act and will require HHS to develop guidelines for operating recovery housing, in order to ensure that individuals recovering from an opioid addiction receive quality care.
  • Partial Filling of Opioid Prescriptions: This provision improves implementation of Senator Warren's Reducing Unused Medications Act of 2016 by ensuring that more doctors and patients know about the option to partially fill opioid prescriptions.
  • Electronic Prescriptions for Controlled Substances: This provision is based on the Every Prescription Conveyed Securely (EPCS) Act, which Senator Warren introduced with her colleagues to gather better data on opioid prescriptions and help health care providers make the best decisions for their patients by requiring electronic prescriptions for controlled substances, including opioids, under Medicare.
  • Assistance for States and Municipalities to Detect Fentanyl: This provision incorporates Senator Warren’s Surveillance and Testing of Opioids to Prevent (STOP) Fentanyl Deaths Act, which aids states and municipalities in identifying the dangerous synthetic opioid fentanyl in both fatal and nonfatal drug overdoses.

“This is a deadly epidemic, and we need to do everything we can to respond to it accordingly,” said Senator Warren. “While Congress could have gone further in providing communities with the resources they need to address the epidemic, I supported this bill because it makes some common-sense changes that will help us in our fight against the opioid crisis.  I am also pleased that several bipartisan provisions I worked on with my colleagues were included in the final bill and look forward to seeing it signed into law.”
In April, Senator Warren and Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) introduced the Comprehensive Addiction Resources Emergency (CARE) Act to provide states and communities with $100 billion in federal funding over ten years, including more than $800 million a year directly to tribal governments and organizations.

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