House Committee Advances Legislation for Medication Access and Training for Opioid Addiction
During a mark-up session on Wednesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted to advance provisions of the Medication Access and Training Expansion Act, known as the MATE Act.
The legislation is designed to ensure controlled medication prescribers have a baseline knowledge of how to treat patients suffering with addiction. Only a fraction of clinicians in the U.S. receive appropriate education on treating addiction or have a license to prescribe buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid addiction.
The bill, co-sponsored by Reps. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., David McKinley, R-W.Va., David Trone, D-Md., Buddy Carter, R-Ga., and Annie Kuster, D-N.H., would mandate that medication prescribers complete at least eight hours of education on treating and managing patients with addiction from one or more accredited organizations or an accredited health professional school or residency program.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee also voted to advance H.R. 1384, the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act of 2021, this week, which would eliminate barriers to buprenorphine access.
The bill, known as the MAT Act, is co-sponsored by Reps. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., Anthony Gonzalez, R-Ohio, Antonio Delgado, D-N.Y., and Mike Turner, R-Ohio, and aims to eliminate a treatment requirement that health care practitioners apply for a separate waiver through the Drug Enforcement Administration to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid addiction treatment. The bill would also eliminate patient limits on prescribers of buprenorphine for this purpose.
The U.S. Senate is currently considering companion pieces for both the MATE and MAT Acts.
Alexa can be reached at [email protected]
