Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
HHS Loosens Regulations To Make Prescribing Addiction Treatment Easier
Stat: Biden Administration Will Let Nearly All Providers To Prescribe Buprenorphine
The Biden administration on Tuesday announced it would move forward with a dramatic deregulation of addiction medicine first proposed by the Trump administration in January. The change would allow almost any prescriber to treat patients using the drug buprenorphine, the most effective medication for opioid addiction. Currently, doctors, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners must undergo a separate training and apply for a waiver before they’re allowed to prescribe the drug to patients. (Facher, 4/27)
Modern Healthcare: HHS Waives Provider Training Requirements For Buprenorphine Prescribing
HHS announced Tuesday it will make it easier for providers to prescribe buprenorphine, potentially expanding access to the addiction treatment and better integrating it with primary care. Under new practice guidelines, several types of providers, including physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and others, will no longer have to complete an eight-hour training before prescribing buprenorphine for opioid use disorder to up to 30 patients. (Hellmann, 4/27)
NPR: As Opioid Deaths Surge, Biden Team Moves To Make Buprenorphine Treatment Mainstream
The Biden administration says new federal guidelines released Tuesday will allow far more medical practitioners to prescribe buprenorphine, a drug proven to reduce opioid relapses and overdose deaths. The change lowers regulatory hurdles that critics believe sharply limit use of the life-saving medication at a time when drug deaths are surging. "We have made this much easier for physicians but also for other medical practitioners," said Dr. Rachel Levine, assistant secretary of health, speaking with NPR. (Mann, 4/27)
NPR: National Institute On Drug Abuse Director On Biden's Opioid Treatment Guidelines
More medical practitioners are being allowed to prescribe buprenorphine under new guidelines from the Biden administration. The change means that the drug shown to reduce opioid relapses and overdose deaths can be more widely prescribed. It comes after a year of overdose deaths spiking across the United States. Early estimates indicate about 90,000 people died of drug overdoses in the 12 months ending in September, higher than has ever been recorded. It's about an increase of 20,000 deaths from the previous 12-month period. The majority of drug overdose deaths involved opioids. (Cornish, 4/27)
In other updates on the opioid crisis —
Charleston Gazette-Mail: Plan Calls For WV To Receive 1% Of Settlement Reached With OxyContin Maker
Despite being one of the areas most affected by the opioid crisis, West Virginia is set to receive about 1% of the proposed national settlement being reached with the drug company accused of creating the problem. The disclosure for the settlement was made over the weekend after West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, with support from 82 counties and municipalities and others, filed an objection to Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy settlement and its failure to disclose how the $7 billion proposal would be split. According to the newly released settlement document, known as the Denver Plan, West Virginia is set to receive about 1.16% of the settlement, about $81 million. (Hessler, 4/27)
WLRN 91.3 FM: How A Palm Beach County Needle-Exchange Program Is Addressing Rise In Overdose Deaths
There is a nationwide spike in drug overdose deaths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that, as of May 2020, the number is the highest amount of overdose deaths ever recorded in a 12-month span. A nonprofit needle-exchange program, approved unanimously by Palm Beach County commissioners last year, says “the pandemic has played a role in the spike.” (Brutus, 4/27)
KHN: Doctors More Likely To Prescribe Opioids To Covid ‘Long Haulers,’ Raising Addiction Fears
Covid survivors are at risk from a possible second pandemic, this time of opioid addiction, given the high rate of painkillers being prescribed to these patients, health experts say. A new study in Nature found alarmingly high rates of opioid use among covid survivors with lingering symptoms at Veterans Health Administration facilities. About 10% of covid survivors develop “long covid,” struggling with often disabling health problems even six months or longer after a diagnosis. (Szabo, 4/28)
