The President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis yesterday urged President Trump to declare the opioid epidemic a national emergency. “With approximately 142 Americans dying every day, America is enduring a death toll equal to September 11th every three weeks,” the commission said in a draft interim report to the president. “Your declaration would empower your cabinet to take bold steps and would force Congress to focus on funding and empowering the Executive Branch even further to deal with this loss of life.” The report also calls for federal action to eliminate barriers caused by the Medicaid Institutions for Mental Diseases exclusion, which the commission says will immediately open inpatient treatment to thousands of Americans; better align patient privacy laws specific to addiction with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act; mandate prescriber education to enhance prevention; expand access to medication-assisted treatment and naloxone; combat illicit fentanyl; enhance data sharing among prescription drug monitoring programs; and enforce the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. The commission expects to provide additional recommendations in its final report, due in the fall.

Related News Articles

Headline
Jon Ulven, Ph.D., behavioral health psychologist and chair of adult psychology at Sanford Health, details the fragile behavioral health landscape in rural…
Headline
Kevin McEwan, DNP, R.N., chief nursing officer at Madison Memorial Hospital, shares how Medicaid provides vital behavioral health and maternal and child care…
Headline
Boston Medical Center’s Jeff Schneider, M.D., associate chief medical officer, designated institutional official and chair of the Graduate Medical Education…
Blog
Even before the COVID pandemic, the mental health and wellness of our young people was failing. The pandemic exacerbated the crisis and made it difficult for…
Headline
A new AHA video highlights how Corewell Health is transforming youth behavioral health care access in rural Michigan through school-based clinics and…
Headline
The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury May 15 announced that they will not enforce the 2024 mental health parity final rule, a…