Policy Corner: May 25, 2018

House Committee Advances Bills on Opioid Crisis

This week, the House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) issued a message in USA Today’s opinion pages that “Congress is hard at work to combat the opioid crisis.” Most of the work is conducted by the House Energy and Commerce Committee which has advanced 57 bills. These bills include:

• H.R. 5228, the Stop Counterfeit Drugs by Regulating and Enhancing Enforcement Now (SCREEN) Act, authored by Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.).
  
• H.R. 5806, the 21st Century Tools for Pain and Addiction Treatments, authored by Subcommittee on Health Chairman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-Tex.), Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.), and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Vice Chairman Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) to direct the FDA to issue or update existing guidance on ways existing pathways can be used to bring novel non-addictive treatments for pain and addiction to patients.
  
• H.R. 1925, the At-Risk Youth Medicaid Protection Act of 2017, authored by Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-Calif,) and Rep. Griffith, will require state Medicaid programs not to terminate a juvenile’s medical assistance eligibility because he/she is incarcerated. A state may suspend coverage while the juvenile is an inmate, but must restore coverage upon release without requiring a new application unless the individual no longer meets the eligibility requirements for medical assistance. H.R. 1925 passed the committee by voice vote.
  
• H.R. 3192, the CHIP Mental Health Parity Act, authored by Rep. Joseph Kennedy, III (D-MA), will require state Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) to cover mental health benefits, which all state CHIP programs currently cover.
  
• H.R. 4005, the Medicaid Reentry Act, authored by Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), as amended, will require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to convene a stakeholder group that will produce a report of best practices for states to consider in health care related transitions for inmates of public institutions.
  
• H.R. 4998, the Health Insurance for Former Foster Youth Act, authored by Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), would extend Medicaid coverage to former foster youth if they move out of state, which the Affordable Care Act (ACA) did not authorize.
  
• H.R. 5477, the Rural Development of Opioid Capacity Services Act, authored by Rep. Tom O’Halleran (D-Ariz.), will require Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to carry out a demonstration project to provide an enhanced federal matching rate for state Medicaid expenditures related to the expansion of substance-use treatment and recovery services targeting provider capacity.
  
• H.R. 5583, to amend title XI of the Social Security Act to require states to annually report on certain adult health quality measures, and for other purposes, authored by Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), will require state Medicaid programs to report on the 11 behavioral health measures that are included in CMS’ 2018 Core Set of Adult Health Care Quality Measures for Medicaid. H.R. 5583 passed the committee by voice vote.
  
• H.R. 5797, the IMD CARE Act, authored by Rep. Mimi Walters (R-Calif.), will allow state Medicaid programs from FY2019 through FY2023 to remove the Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion for Medicaid beneficiaries aged 21-64 with an opioid use disorder. This bill improves the continuum of care by removing a barrier to care under current law, so that Medicaid would pay for up to 30 total days of care in an IMD during a 12-month period and eligible individuals can get the care they need.
  
• H.R. 5810, the Medicaid Health HOME Act, authored by Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Vice Chairman Leonard Lance (R-N.J.) and Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), will improve the state option for Medicaid health homes under current law that improve the coordination of, and access to care for Medicaid beneficiaries with substance use disorder. The bill extends the enhanced matching rate for qualified activities from eight quarters to 10 quarters.
  
• H.R. 5798, the Opioid Screening and Chronic Pain Management Alternatives for Seniors Act, authored by Reps. Bucshon, Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), and Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.), will add a review of current opioid prescriptions and, as appropriate, a screening for opioid use disorder as part of the Welcome to Medicare initial examination.
  
• H.R. 5587, the Peer Support Communities of Recovery Act, authored by Reps. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) and Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), will enhance CARA’s Building Communities of Recovery Program and authorize HHS to award grants to peer support specialist organizations for the development and expansion of recovery services. Peer support specialists/peer recovery coaches are health workers who are in recovery from SUD. New programs are emerging across the country to use peers in a range of settings, including hospitals, to provide immediate and ongoing support and treatment linkages to individuals who have overdosed from opioids, or support individuals newly in recovery.
  

BIAA to Submit Senate Testimony on FY 2019 Appropriations

The Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) will submit testimony to the Senate Appropriation’s Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education and Related Agencies this coming week calling for increased fiscal year 2019 funding for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Act-related programs and the TBI Model Systems, funded by the National Institute of Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). Specifically, BIAA is requesting $11 million total for HHS’ Administration for Community Living’s (ACL) TBI State Implementation Grant program; $6 million total for ACL’s Protection and Advocacy Grant Program; and $5 million additional funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Injury Center to establish and oversee a national concussion surveillance system. BIAA also recommends $15 million for the NIDILRR TBI Model Systems, administered by ACL, to expand the number of centers and research projects and requested that appropriators oppose the president’s recommendation to move the program to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The deadline for submission is June 1.

Senate Confirms Education Deputy Secretary

Last week, the Senate confirmed Brigadier General (Ret.) Mick Zais to be deputy secretary at the Department of Education. He is a former state superintendent of South Carolina schools and also served as president of Newberry College for ten years. The president has also announced his intentions to nominate Scott Stump of Colorado to be Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical, and Adult Education at the Department of Education. He is the Chief Operating Officer for Vivayic, Inc., a learning solutions company based in Lincoln, Nebraska. Previously he served as the Assistant Provost for Career Technical Education (CTE) with the Colorado Community College System. In 2014, Mr. Stump served as President of the National Association of State Directors of CTE consortium, now called Advance CTE.

BIAA gratefully acknowledges the Centre for Neuro Skills and Avanir Pharmaceuticals for their support for legislative action.