AHA supports bill to reauthorize key SUPPORT Act programs

The AHA Dec. 7 sent a letter supporting the Support for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act (H.R. 4531), bipartisan legislation that would reauthorize key SUPPORT Act programs for patients with substance use disorder and permanently extend required Medicaid coverage for medication-assisted treatments. As urged by the AHA in June, the bill also would permanently extend the option for state Medicaid programs to receive federal matching payments for substance use disorder treatment provided in certain Institutions for Mental Disease for up to 30 days over a 12-month period. 
 
"For our members, this flexibility allows them to ensure patients receive the specific care they need," AHA said in a letter to the bill’s sponsors, Reps. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Ann Kuster, D-N.H. "Both provisions take important steps forward in increasing access to SUD treatment services and reducing the stigma associated with seeking out the help that is needed." 

The bill passed with unanimous consent out of the Energy and Commerce Committee earlier this year and awaits a vote on the House floor.