White House's latest initiatives to fight opioid abuse
The latest action includes CMS guidance to assist states in leveraging Medicaid to combat the opioid epidemic.
This past fall, the Trump Administration stopped short of declaring opioids a national emergency, instead declaring a public health emergency. Despite its decision not to allocate federal funding to the crisis, the administration has been busy working on several other strategies to combat abuse.
Last week, the White House announced it will launch an ad campaign to raise awareness about opioid abuse among young people, and this week the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has released guidance to assist states in leveraging Medicaid to combat the opioid epidemic.
The Hill reports that the ad campaign consists of four ads relating actual stories of individuals who took extreme action to maintain their addictions, including one person who purposely broke an arm to be able to continue receiving opioid pain medication.
Related: Dems introduce legislation to provide $10B annually to fight opioids
According to the Hill, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy is taking the action in a partnership with nonprofits the Truth Initiative and the Ad Council. Space for the digital and TV ads, at a likely value of more than $30 million, is being donated by NBC, Facebook, YouTube and Google, among others.
The CMS guidance, relates another Hill report, is focused on information related to covering services for infants born exposed to opioids, as well as ways to enhance federal funding for telemedicine and programs that track on patients’ prescriptions.
According to the information bulletin, the number of infants born exposed to drugs has risen nearly fivefold from 2000 to 2012—a “significant and rapidly growing public health concern.”
According to CMS, Medicaid can help infants get access to treatment. In addition, states may also cover addiction treatment services for Medicaid-eligible parents at the same time the infant is being treated.
The report adds that CMS has advised state Medicaid directors on funding opportunities to increase these measures for treatment.
“State-level innovation, including in the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and electronic health records, has been and will be a key piece of ending this crisis,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a press release about the CMS guidance.