The President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction
and the Opioid Crisis released its final report with more than 50 recommendations to address the
opioid epidemic. Among other recommendations, the report urges Congress and the
Administration to block grant federal funding for opioid and substance-use
disorder-related activities to the states; grant waiver approvals for all 50
states to eliminate barriers to treatment caused by the Medicaid Institutions
for Mental Diseases exclusion; 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; combat illicit fentanyl; enhance data sharing
among prescription drug monitoring programs; and enforce the Mental Health
Parity and Addiction Equity Act.