WASHINGTON —Today, as Connecticut and the nation continue to be ravaged by the growing opioid and heroin addiction epidemic, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) called on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee to take up and consider The Recovery Enhancement for Addiction Treatment Act (TREAT Act)  in the Committee’s markup scheduled for next week. The TREAT Act would increase the number of patients who have access to specialized treatment for prescription drug and heroin addiction, such as buprenorphine (also called Suboxone when it’s paired with Naloxone), by expanding the ability of addiction medical specialists and other trained medical professionals to provide life-saving medication-assisted therapies. 

“The opioid crisis is currently plaguing our country and devastating families,” Murphy said. “The TREAT Act should be a key element of our response to fight it. Right now, there is a limit on the number of patients physicians can prescribe life-saving buprenorphine treatment to. And if you're a physician’s assistant or a nurse practitioner, you're not allowed to prescribe the treatment at all. Even though these policies were well-intentioned, there are just too many restrictions preventing individuals from getting the care they need to overcome their addiction. The TREAT Act will remove those restrictions and caps, and allow nurses and PA’s with higher levels of training to prescribe the life-saving medication. I urge the HELP Committee to mark up the TREAT Act with my Mental Health Reform Act next week, and to move it to the floor as quickly as possible so that we can offer some real, tangible relief to communities in Connecticut and across the country.”

Current law limits the number of physicians who can prescribe buprenorphine for opioid dependency and caps the number of patients receiving the medication. As a result, individuals seeking medication-assisted treatment often have difficulty finding physicians who are certified to prescribe buprenorphine, who are actively prescribing it, and who are accepting new patients. Due in part to federal restrictions, of the approximately 2.4 million people dealing with prescription drug and heroin dependency in 2013, only half received specialty treatment for their condition. According to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Connecticut, 723 people died as a result of a drug overdose in Connecticut in 2015 – double the number of deaths as a result of a drug overdose from just 2012. 

The TREAT Act would help increase the number of patients who have access to treatment by allowing substance abuse treatment specialists and certain other trained physicians who are practicing in a team-based facility that has built in quality measures to see a greater number of patients. Physicians under the bill are also required to fully participate in state-based prescription drug monitoring databases to track prescription drug use. The bill would also allow trained nurse practitioners and physician assistants to treat, for the first time, opioid dependent patients with approved medication assisted treatments. Combined with behavioral therapy, effective medication assisted treatment programs for opioid addiction can decrease overdose deaths, be cost-effective, reduce transmissions of HIV and hepatitis C, and reduce other social harms such as criminal activity. While emphasizing addiction medicine expertise and quality, the legislation lifts existing and arbitrary federal restrictions that are non-existent for any other disease and limit access to life saving therapies.

Last week, Murphy – who is a member of the HELP Committee and cosponsor of the TREAT Act – urged the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to take all necessary steps to ensure that those seeking treatment for addiction have greater access to medication-assisted treatment, such as a buprenorphine.