Opioid Package Is ‘A Glimmer Of Hope At The End Of A Dark Tunnel,’ Senators Say

The Associated Press: Congress OKs Opioid Legislation In Show Of Bipartisanship
Setting aside the Supreme Court fight, members of Congress this week approved bipartisan legislation aimed at curbing the devastating opioid addiction across the country. But the Support for Patients and Communities Act, which President Donald Trump said he would sign into law, has political implications. It includes contributions from at least 70 lawmakers, some of whom face tough re-election campaigns in November. The measure, which the Senate passed 98-1 on Wednesday and the House approved 393-8 on Sept. 28, ensures incumbents have something positive to campaign on in the final weeks before the election. (Beam, 10/4)

Kaiser Health News: Congress Targets Misuse Of Hospice Drugs
Hospice workers would be allowed to destroy patients’ unneeded opioids, reducing the risk that families misuse them, according to one little-noticed provision in the bipartisan opioids bill headed to President Donald Trump’s desk for his likely signature. The bill would empower hospice staff to destroy opioid medications that are expired, no longer needed by the patient because of a change in treatment or left over after the patient dies. (Bailey, 10/4)

Kaiser Health News: Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Some Things Old, Some Things New
Congress passed major health-related legislation in time for the fiscal year, which began Monday, including a broad bill to address the opioid epidemic and a spending bill for the Department of Health and Human Services. This marks the first time since the 1990s that Congress has agreed to HHS spending levels before the start of the fiscal year. (10/4)

The Wall Street Journal: ‘We Don’t All Hate Each Other’: Senate’s Bipartisanship Obscured By Kavanaugh Fight
The intense partisanship engulfing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has diverted attention from a raft of recent bipartisanship in the Senate during the past few weeks, drowning out issues that could appeal to voters in the midterms. ... Also on Wednesday, the Senate advanced an opioid bill to President Trump’s desk by a vote of 98-1. That bill includes several changes to Medicare and state Medicaid programs, such as requiring Medicare to cover services provided by certified opioid treatment programs. (Jamerson, 10/4)

News on the opioid crisis comes out of Massachusetts, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania —

Modern Healthcare: Blue Cross Of Mass. Giving Opioid Overdose Reversal Kits To Employers
Massachusetts has been hard hit by the opioid epidemic. The state saw 1,909 opioid-related deaths last year, and another 657 deaths in the first six months of 2018. U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams in April urged more Americans to keep naloxone on hand. ...Because of their propensity to suffer on-the-job injuries that lead to opioid prescriptions, construction and extraction workers comprise 24% of opioid-related deaths among the state's working population, according to an August report from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Allison Gifford, a spokeswoman for Shawmut Construction, wrote in an email that the company does not have an issue with opioid abuse and has never had an overdose on site. (Bannow, 10/4)

The New York Times: An Infant Is Dead, Her Twin Is Injured, And Their Mother Is In Police Custody
Child welfare workers were asked to visit a modest home in Queens a year ago to check on a mother with five young children, because she had just given birth to fraternal twins, a boy and a girl, who had opioids in their systems. On Wednesday night, the police were called to the same single-family house to deal with a far graver situation. The 13-month-old girl was found dead and showed signs of physical trauma, and her brother, also injured, was clinging to life. (Stewart and Wolfe, 10/4)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Alert Issued After Spike In Overdose Activity The Last Week
The Hamilton County Heroin Coalition has issued an alert warning of a surge of overdoses in the area in the past week. The coroner noted that nine deaths in the last seven days were likely from overdose, and health officials said hospital emergency department visits for suspected overdose were at 11 per day. (Brookbank and DeMio, 10/4)

Philly Inquirer: Declaring A Disaster In Opioid-Plagued Kensington, Philadelphia Officials Announce A New Rescue Plan
In Kensington, the epicenter of Philadelphia's opioid crisis, one thing is clear, city officials said Wednesday: What they're doing to fix this devastated community isn't nearly enough. So on Wednesday, Mayor Kenney declared a disaster in the neighborhood and ordered up a new approach: an emergency operations center, away from City Hall, where staffers from relevant agencies will huddle together and figure out new solutions. The concept is to lower traditional bureaucratic walls in hopes of spurring innovative action, not just reaction. (Whelan, 10/3)