Press Releases
Bipartisan Members Urge SAMHSA to Update Regulations, Ensure Access to All Available Addiction Therapies
Washington, D.C.,
September 22, 2014
Tags:
Health Care
U.S. Representatives Renee Ellmers (R-NC-2), Steve Womack (R-AR-3), Doris Matsui (D-CA-6), and Bill Owens (D-NY-21), along with 44 of their House colleagues, today sent U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Burwell a bipartisan letter requesting that the she instruct the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to use its existing authority to update outdated regulations to comprehensively address the disease of addiction, allowing patients to access the right treatment at the right time based on their individual circumstances. A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), which shows an increase in the rate of drug poisoning deaths involving opioid analgesics between 1999 and 2011, highlights the need to update current regulations. Because there were only two medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of opioid dependence at the time the regulations were written, the medication a patient is prescribed depends almost entirely upon where they seek treatment. The letter asks for an evaluation of strategies to address the opioid crisis in our country and says, in part: “If we are to attempt to reverse incidence of opioid dependence and the increasing numbers of opioid overdoses and opioid-related deaths associated with opioid addiction, it is important that patients have access to all FDA approved treatment options.... We have a higher number of effective treatment interventions available today than ever before, and the trend leading to so many tragic consequences can, and must, be reversed. HHS, working with SAMHSA, must modernize its regulations to ensure access to all FDA-approved opioid treatment medications, based on the clinical needs of the patient, and train practitioners to treat this devastating disease in a manner consistent with the treatment of other serious life-threatening illnesses or chronic conditions.” The letter goes on to request a timely response from Secretary Burwell and a briefing to discuss a pathway forward on this important issue. The full text of the letter can be found here, and the list of co-signers is below.
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