Washington, D.C. – Today, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA), along with Subcommittee on Health Chairman Peter Roskam (R-IL) and Ranking Member Sandy Levin (D-MI), released legislative proposals to help combat the opioid crisis.

More than three out of five drug overdoses involves an opioid. Overdose deaths from opioids, including prescription opioids, have increased by more than five times since 1999. The time to act is now. These proposals come as the result of bipartisan work with public and private stakeholders to determine how lawmakers can work best with federal, state, and local partners to fully utilize all tools at their disposal to help our families and communities impacted by the opioid crisis.

Upon releasing these bills, Chairman Brady said:

“This is the next step to ensure that the over 42 million Americans who receive prescriptions through the Medicare program are not going to fall victim to the opioid crisis. Together, we have identified legislative solutions for our Committee to consider that will help our families and communities overcome this crisis. We know there is still a long way to go, and I thank all of our Members for their dedicated work on this front. I look forward to working together to move many of these important proposals to the House floor.”

The Committee plans to mark up four “packages.” These packages are:

H.R. 5773, “Preventing Addiction for Susceptible Seniors (PASS) Act” – Sponsored by Chairman Peter Roskam (R-IL), Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL), Rep. Steve Knight (R-CA), and Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ)

H.R. 5774, “Combatting Opioid Abuse for Care in Hospitals (COACH) Act” – Sponsored by Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL), Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC), and Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH)

H.R. 5775, “Providing Reliable Options for Patients and Educational Resources (PROPER) Act” – Sponsored by Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN), Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI), Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R-ME), and Rep. Conor Lamb (D-PA)

H.R. 5776, “Medicare and Opioid Safe Treatment (MOST) Act” – Sponsored by Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA), Rep. George Holding (R-NC), Rep. Scott Taylor (R-VA), and Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA)​​

The above packages will include measures from many of the following pieces of legislation:

H.R. 5675, “To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to require prescription drug plan sponsors under the Medicare program to establish drug management programs for at-risk beneficiaries” – Sponsored by Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Chairman Peter Roskam (R-IL), Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI), and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM)

H.R. 4841, “Standardizing Electronic Prior Authorization for Safe Prescribing” – Sponsored by Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ), Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA), Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH), and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM)

H.R. 5676, “Stop Excessive Narcotics in our Retirement (SENIOR) Communities Protection Act” – Sponsored by Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NJ), Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ), Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY), Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY), and Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH)

H.R. 5684, “Protecting Seniors from Opioid Abuse Act” – Sponsored by Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA), Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), and Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA)

H.R. 5699, “Hospital Opioid Solutions Toolkit (HOST) Act” – Sponsored by Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) and Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH)

H.R. 5686, “Medicare Clear Health Options in Care for Enrollees (CHOICE) Act” – Sponsored by Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN), Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI), Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY), and Rep. Conor Lamb (D-PA)

H.R. 5715­­, “Strengthening Partnerships to Prevent Opioid Abuse Act” – Sponsored by Rep. Jim Renacci (R-OH), Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL), Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA), and Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY)

H.R. 5716, “Commit to Opioid Medical Prescriber Accountability and Safety for Seniors (COMPASS) Act” – Sponsored by Chairman Peter Roskam (R-IL), Rep. John Larson (D-CT), Rep. Susan Brooks (R-IN), and Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT)

H.R. 5723, “Expanding Oversight of Opioid Prescribing and Payment Act” – Sponsored by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA), and Rep. David McKinley (R-WV)

H.R. 5718, “Perioperative Reduction of Opioids (PRO) Act” – Sponsored by Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) and Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY)

H.R. 5714, “Education for Disposal of Unused (EDU) Opioids Act” – Sponsored by Rep. Diane Black (R-TN), Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY), and Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA)

H.R. 5719, “Reduce Overprescribing Opioids in Treatment (ROOT) Act” – Sponsored by Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) and Rep. Tom O’Halleran (D-AZ)

H.R. 5725, “Benefit Evaluation of Safe Treatment (BEST) Act” – Sponsored by Chairman Peter Roskam (R-IL), Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA), Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA), and Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL)

H.R. 5722, “Dr. Todd Graham Pain Management Improvement Act of 2018” – Sponsored by Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA)

H.R. 5779, “Promoting Quality of Care in Pain Management Act” – Sponsored by Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN) and Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL)

H.R. 5777, “Centralized Opioid Guidance (COG) Act of 2018” – Sponsored by Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and Rep. Conor Lamb (D-PA)

H.R. __,  “A bill to amend title XI of the Social Security Act to provide for clinical psychologist services models to be tested by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, and for other purposes” – Sponsored by Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA)

H.R. 5769, “Expanding Access to Treatment Act of 2018” – Sponsored by Rep. Keith Rothfus (R-PA) and Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL)

H.R. 5080, “A bill based on the Comprehensive Opioid Management and Bundled Addiction Treatment Act of 2018” – Sponsored by Rep. George Holding (R-NC)

H.R. 5083, “Expanding Access to Evidence-Based Opioid Treatment for Seniors Act of 2018” – Sponsored by Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) and Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) 

H.R. 5778, “Promoting Outpatient Access to Non-Opioid Treatments Act” – Sponsored by Rep. Kenny Marchant (R-TX) and Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI)