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LOBBYING REPORT |
Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (Section 5) - All Filers Are Required to Complete This Page
2. Address
Address1 | 11400 Rockville Pike |
Address2 |
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City | Rockville |
State | MD |
Zip Code | 20852 |
Country | USA |
3. Principal place of business (if different than line 2)
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State |
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Zip Code |
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5. Senate ID# 401104864-12
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6. House ID# 440290001
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TYPE OF REPORT | 8. Year | 2021 |
Q1 (1/1 - 3/31) | Q2 (4/1 - 6/30) | Q3 (7/1 - 9/30) | Q4 (10/1 - 12/31) |
9. Check if this filing amends a previously filed version of this report
10. Check if this is a Termination Report | Termination Date |
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11. No Lobbying Issue Activity |
INCOME OR EXPENSES - YOU MUST complete either Line 12 or Line 13 | |||||||||
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12. Lobbying | 13. Organizations | ||||||||
INCOME relating to lobbying activities for this reporting period was: | EXPENSE relating to lobbying activities for this reporting period were: | ||||||||
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Provide a good faith estimate, rounded to the nearest $10,000, of all lobbying related income for the client (including all payments to the registrant by any other entity for lobbying activities on behalf of the client). | 14. REPORTING Check box to indicate expense accounting method. See instructions for description of options. | ||||||||
Method A.
Reporting amounts using LDA definitions only
Method B. Reporting amounts under section 6033(b)(8) of the Internal Revenue Code Method C. Reporting amounts under section 162(e) of the Internal Revenue Code |
Signature | Digitally Signed By: Kelly Corredor |
Date | 1/15/2022 8:03:06 AM |
LOBBYING ACTIVITY. Select as many codes as necessary to reflect the general issue areas in which the registrant engaged in lobbying on behalf of the client during the reporting period. Using a separate page for each code, provide information as requested. Add additional page(s) as needed.
15. General issue area code ALC
16. Specific lobbying issues
Advocated for Increased appropriations for HRSAs Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program. This program provides student loan repayment for addiction treatment professionals who commit to working in underserved or high-risk communities.
Advocated for increased appropriations for HRSAs Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program. This
Program provides grants to institutions with training opportunities for fellows in addiction medicine and addiction psychiatry who have demonstrated interest in providing addiction treatment in underserved communities.
Advocated for increased appropriations for HRSAs Integrated Substance Use Disorder
Training Program. This program provides grants to expand the number of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, psychologists, and social workers trained to provide addiction and mental health services in underserved community-based settings that integrate primary care, mental health, and addiction services.
Advocated for increased appropriations for federal initiatives that lead to a more diverse addiction treatment workforce, such as scholarships and loan repayment targeting
underrepresented minority addiction medicine professionals, including SAMHSAs
Minority Fellowship Program.
Advocated for the alignment of coverage and payment policies in Medicare and Medicaid with evidence-based and nationally recognized addiction treatment and placement criteria and
standards (e.g., The ASAM Criteria). This would include permanent modification to the Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion to allow federal Medicaid funds to serve individuals with SUDs in those residential and inpatient settings that are able to demonstrate that patient assessments, clinical services, level-of-care and length-of-stay recommendations are consistent with The ASAM Criteria and that evidence based medication management using Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medications are available to patients in such settings.
Advocated for regulatory/sub-regulatory/application guidance that would require the use of evidence-based practices in the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) Block Grant,
including requiring each grantee delivering SUD treatment services to provide access to
all FDA-approved medications for SUDs treated by that grantee. Advocated for a requirement that SAPT, State Opioid Response Grant (SOR), and Rural Communities Opioid Response Program grantees that receive grant funds for the delivery of addiction treatment services should be limited to Medicaid providers in order to better integrate federal grant dollars and
Medicaid funds and Administration support for increased oversight and improved mechanisms for ensuring that such funding does not supplant the consistent and scalable funding that Medicaid (or Medicare) provides.
Advocated for S 2235/HR 2067 - Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act of 2021: This legislation would ensure most Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) controlled medication
prescribers have a baseline knowledge of how to identify, treat, and manage patients
with SUD and would allow accredited health professional schools and residency
programs to fulfill the training requirement through their own curricula, as well as provide
them with resources to do so. Advocated for simultaneous passage of S 445/HR 1384 - Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act, which would eliminate the requirement that practitioners apply for a separate waiver through the DEA to prescribe buprenorphine for addiction and eliminate the patient limits on buprenorphine prescribers.
Advocated for S 285/HR 955 - the Medicaid Reentry Act: This legislation would allow for reestablishment of health insurance coverage under Medicaid for eligible individuals who
are incarcerated, during the 30-day period preceding their release from jail or prison.
Advocated for S 1821/HR 3514 - the Humane Correctional Health Care Act, which
would repeal the inmate exclusion that bars the use of federal Medicaid matching funds
from covering health care services in jails and prisons.
Advocated for S1727/HR 3450 - The Medicaid Bump Act of 2021: This legislation would provide an enhanced Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage rate of 90 percent for State Medicaid spending on mental health and substance use disorder services in excess of
2019 levels. It would also require states to use the additional federal funds as a supplement to rather than a replacement for state funding levels, and to use the funds to increase the capacity, efficiency, and quality of behavioral health services, including through increasing provider reimbursement rates.
Advocated for Section 9 of S. 1010 - the Turn the Tide Act - These provisions would increase Medicaid fees for addiction treatment services to at least Medicare levels.
Advocated for HR 1364 - the Parity Enforcement Act: This legislation would expand the U.S. Department of Labors authority to hold health insurers and plan sponsors accountable for offering health plans that violate the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) of 2008 or for employing utilization review processes that prove more restrictive for mental
health and addiction care than for other medical care in violation of the MHPAEA.
Advocated for S 340/HR 1674 - TREATS Act: This legislation would make permanent a new, audio-video, telehealth evaluation exception to the Ryan Haight Acts in-person exam requirement, which would allow clinicians to prescribe certain addiction treatment medications, like buprenorphine, to new patients through telehealth. It would also clarify Medicares
continued ability, beyond the COVID-19 public health emergency, to reimburse for
audio-only, SUD and mental health telehealth services after an in-person or telehealth
evaluation. Provided technical assistance regarding a possible audio-only exception to Ryan Haight for initiation of buprenorphine for OUD.
Advocated for HR 3925 Reducing Barriers to Substance Use Treatment Act: This legislation would prohibit states receiving Federal funding for medication-assisted treatment under Medicaid from imposing utilization control policies or procedures (as defined by the Secretary of
the Department of Health and Human Services), including prior authorization
requirements, with respect to such treatment.
Advocated for the Administration to support continuous collaboration and sharing of information between the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and SAMHSA, which should include new, strategic efforts to provide technical assistance funds to states to support their operation of CMS-approved Section 1115 SUD waivers related to the IMD exclusion and to enhance their care delivery systems for patients.
Advocated for the Administration to increase promotion to State Medicaid programs of adoption of two, new sets of bundled G codes to increase or establish payment for outpatient opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment and treatment services provided by opioid treatment programs (OTPs)
at Medicare payment rates or higher.
Advocated for the Administration to support the following regulatory and administrative efforts that would reduce barriers to accessing addiction treatment:
Creation of safe-harbor provisions to the Anti-Kickback Statute and Eliminating
Kickbacks in Recovery Act Civil, as they may be applied to the implementation of
contingency management (CM) for the treatment of addiction.
Approval of a prescription to over the counter (OTC) switch for at least one naloxone
product. This change would save lives and reduce existing barriers that prevent access to
this critical medication;
Regulatory changes that would allow Medicaid reimbursement for the room and board
portion of SUD residential levels of care that meet level of care standards set forth in The
ASAM Criteria;
Regulatory (or legislative) changes that would create a special registration exemption
for jails, prisons, and their authorized personnel to prescribe and otherwise dispense
controlled medications for initiation, maintenance or withdrawal management of OUD
that is significantly less burdensome than currently applicable registration requirements
in the Controlled Substances Act and related regulations. Such special registration should
not limit the number of persons who are detained or incarcerated who can be treated
with such medications by a qualified practitioner;
Regulatory (or legislative) changes that would allow pharmacy dispensing and/or
administration of methadone that has been prescribed by a legally authorized prescriber
of controlled medications who is affiliated with an OTP or is a board-certified addiction
specialist physician;
Regulatory (or legislative) changes that would make permanent the opioid treatment
program (OTP) flexibilities, including the methadone unsupervised dosing flexibilities,
implemented during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency while continuing study of
the impact of these flexibilities;
Assessment of current opioid order systems and monitoring programs to more fully
understand the potential negative implications for patient access to buprenorphine at
pharmacies and other controlled substance medications used to treat OUD;
In the absence of Congressional action to eliminate the x-waiver, efforts to increase the
DATA 2000 waiver patient limit -- aka, the applicable number;
Issuance of regulations relating to a special registration for telemedicine, as was
directed in Section 3232 of the SUPPORT Act of 2018.
Advocated for the S.834/H.R.2256 Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act, which would increase the number of Medicare GME slots by 14,000 over 7 years, including its inclusion in the next reconciliation package.
Advocated for the Support, Treatment, and Overdose Prevention of (S.T.O.P) Fentanyl Act of 2021 (H.R. 2366 / S. 1457). This legislation would expand fentanyl research and education, enhance overdose prevention and access to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, and provide critical public health data and additional training support for various stakeholders.
Advocated for changes to a draft opioid treatment program bill to make permanent certain COVID-19 flexibilities allowed to states for unsupervised doses, as well as "time in treatment" regulatory changes and to permit pharmacy dispensing of methadone for opioid use disorder treatment for certain experienced cohorts of prescribers.
Advocated for the inclusion of enhanced mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) parity enforcement within the Senates version of the budget reconciliation proposal. These enhanced enforcement measures would authorize the Department of Labor to assess civil monetary penalties against insurers that violate the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. Supported $195 million over five years to the Employee Benefits Security Administration for enforcement.
Advocated for the Moms Matter Act (H.R. 909). The Moms Matter Act is a bipartisan bill that would increase federal funding for culturally congruent, community-based mental and behavior health programs.
Advocated for H.R 1693 / S. 79, the Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law Act. This legislation would eliminate the federal crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparity and apply it retroactively to those already convicted or sentenced.
Supported implemented recommendations regarding the CARES Acts amendment of 42 CFR Part 2 to advance further alignment of 42 CFR Part 2 (Part 2) with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for the purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations (TPO).
Supported the tobacco tax provisions included in the portion of the Build Back Better Act that was approved by the Ways and Means Committee
Supported H.R.4244 - STOP Stigma Act, which would make amendments to the names of certain agencies to help end the stigmatization of substance use disorder, and for other purposes.
Supported draft legislation that would amend the Controlled Substances Act to increase the number of days before which certain controlled substances for maintenance or detoxification treatment must be administered, and for other purposes.
Joined advocacy coalition letter to Chairman Ron Wyden and Ranking Member Mike Crapo of the Senate Committee on Finance, encouraging full extension of federal mental health and substance use disorder parity protections to Medicare, all of Medicaid, and TRICARE.
Sent Congressional letter recommending closer coordination among relevant federal agencies, greater integration between primary care and behavioral health reimbursement, and robust funding for the addiction treatment workforce-- such as the Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program. ASAM also expressed support for legislation to ensure state compliance with mental health and addiction parity law and codification of audio-video telehealth prescribing flexibilities for the treatment of substance use disorder. Finally, ASAM called on federal legislators to consider new and promising strategies like contingency management
Advocated for addiction-related provisions in the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) that would increase access to comprehensive, high-quality addiction care in ways that reduce racial, ethnic, and economic disparities, and make important investments in the addiction medicine workforce.
Sent letter to the FDA responding to their request for feedback in reevaluating the voluntary status of the Opioid Analgesics (OA) Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program. Currently, FDA is considering extending the REMS program to become a mandatory course for all opioid prescribers. Urged against FDA making the REMS program mandatory for all opioid prescribers and identified other strategies to expand provider education more effectively. Primarily, ASAM emphasized the importance of the concurrent passage of the Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act (S 2235/HR 2067) and the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act (S 445/HR 1384).
Advocated for the HR 6279, the Opioid Treatment Access Act that would allow for broader access to methadone for opioid use disorder, including through measured expansion of prescribing/pharmacy dispensing.
Joined coalition letter urging reconsideration of the requirements in the Interim Final Rule (IFR), entitled Requirements Related to Surprise Billing; Part II, 86 Fed. Reg. 55,980 (Oct. 7, 2021), implementing the No Surprises Act (NSA) that directs Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) entities to consider the qualifying payment amount (QPA) a rebuttable presumptive reasonable payment for out-of-network physicians engaging in the IDR process.
Joined coalition letter urging inclusion of provisions in the Administration's budget request for FY 23 that expand the Administrations efforts to reduce tobacco use, which remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.
Urged inclusion of the field of addiction medicine in reauthorizations of several SAMHSA programs as well as conveyed ways to improve clinician access to relevant addiction medicine education
17. House(s) of Congress and Federal agencies Check if None
U.S. SENATE, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Health & Human Services - Dept of (HHS), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Office of Natl Drug Control Policy (NDCP), Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA), Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
18. Name of each individual who acted as a lobbyist in this issue area
First Name | Last Name | Suffix | Covered Official Position (if applicable) | New |
Kelly |
Corredor |
|
|
19. Interest of each foreign entity in the specific issues listed on line 16 above Check if None
LOBBYING ACTIVITY. Select as many codes as necessary to reflect the general issue areas in which the registrant engaged in lobbying on behalf of the client during the reporting period. Using a separate page for each code, provide information as requested. Add additional page(s) as needed.
15. General issue area code HCR
16. Specific lobbying issues
Advocated for Increased appropriations for HRSAs Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program. This program provides student loan repayment for addiction treatment professionals who commit to working in underserved or high-risk communities.
Advocated for increased appropriations for HRSAs Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program. This
Program provides grants to institutions with training opportunities for fellows in addiction medicine and addiction psychiatry who have demonstrated interest in providing addiction treatment in underserved communities.
Advocated for increased appropriations for HRSAs Integrated Substance Use Disorder
Training Program. This program provides grants to expand the number of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, psychologists, and social workers trained to provide addiction and mental health services in underserved community-based settings that integrate primary care, mental health, and addiction services.
Advocated for increased appropriations for federal initiatives that lead to a more diverse addiction treatment workforce, such as scholarships and loan repayment targeting
underrepresented minority addiction medicine professionals, including SAMHSAs
Minority Fellowship Program.
Advocated for the alignment of coverage and payment policies in Medicare and Medicaid with evidence-based and nationally recognized addiction treatment and placement criteria and
standards (e.g., The ASAM Criteria). This would include permanent modification to the Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion to allow federal Medicaid funds to serve individuals with SUDs in those residential and inpatient settings that are able to demonstrate that patient assessments, clinical services, level-of-care and length-of-stay recommendations are consistent with The ASAM Criteria and that evidence based medication management using Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medications are available to patients in such settings.
Advocated for regulatory/sub-regulatory/application guidance that would require the use of evidence-based practices in the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) Block Grant,
including requiring each grantee delivering SUD treatment services to provide access to
all FDA-approved medications for SUDs treated by that grantee. Advocated for a requirement that SAPT, State Opioid Response Grant (SOR), and Rural Communities Opioid Response Program grantees that receive grant funds for the delivery of addiction treatment services should be limited to Medicaid providers in order to better integrate federal grant dollars and
Medicaid funds and Administration support for increased oversight and improved mechanisms for ensuring that such funding does not supplant the consistent and scalable funding that Medicaid (or Medicare) provides.
Advocated for S 2235/HR 2067 - Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act of 2021: This legislation would ensure most Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) controlled medication
prescribers have a baseline knowledge of how to identify, treat, and manage patients
with SUD and would allow accredited health professional schools and residency
programs to fulfill the training requirement through their own curricula, as well as provide
them with resources to do so. Advocated for simultaneous passage of S 445/HR 1384 - Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act, which would eliminate the requirement that practitioners apply for a separate waiver through the DEA to prescribe buprenorphine for addiction and eliminate the patient limits on buprenorphine prescribers.
Advocated for S 285/HR 955 - the Medicaid Reentry Act: This legislation would allow for reestablishment of health insurance coverage under Medicaid for eligible individuals who
are incarcerated, during the 30-day period preceding their release from jail or prison.
Advocated for S 1821/HR 3514 - the Humane Correctional Health Care Act, which
would repeal the inmate exclusion that bars the use of federal Medicaid matching funds
from covering health care services in jails and prisons.
Advocated for S1727/HR 3450 - The Medicaid Bump Act of 2021: This legislation would provide an enhanced Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage rate of 90 percent for State Medicaid spending on mental health and substance use disorder services in excess of
2019 levels. It would also require states to use the additional federal funds as a supplement to rather than a replacement for state funding levels, and to use the funds to increase the capacity, efficiency, and quality of behavioral health services, including through increasing provider reimbursement rates.
Advocated for Section 9 of S. 1010 - the Turn the Tide Act - These provisions would increase Medicaid fees for addiction treatment services to at least Medicare levels.
Advocated for HR 1364 - the Parity Enforcement Act: This legislation would expand the U.S. Department of Labors authority to hold health insurers and plan sponsors accountable for offering health plans that violate the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) of 2008 or for employing utilization review processes that prove more restrictive for mental
health and addiction care than for other medical care in violation of the MHPAEA.
Advocated for S 340/HR 1674 - TREATS Act: This legislation would make permanent a new, audio-video, telehealth evaluation exception to the Ryan Haight Acts in-person exam requirement, which would allow clinicians to prescribe certain addiction treatment medications, like buprenorphine, to new patients through telehealth. It would also clarify Medicares
continued ability, beyond the COVID-19 public health emergency, to reimburse for
audio-only, SUD and mental health telehealth services after an in-person or telehealth
evaluation. Provided technical assistance regarding a possible audio-only exception to Ryan Haight for initiation of buprenorphine for OUD.
Advocated for HR 3925 Reducing Barriers to Substance Use Treatment Act: This legislation would prohibit states receiving Federal funding for medication-assisted treatment under Medicaid from imposing utilization control policies or procedures (as defined by the Secretary of
the Department of Health and Human Services), including prior authorization
requirements, with respect to such treatment.
Advocated for the Administration to support continuous collaboration and sharing of information between the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and SAMHSA, which should include new, strategic efforts to provide technical assistance funds to states to support their operation of CMS-approved Section 1115 SUD waivers related to the IMD exclusion and to enhance their care delivery systems for patients.
Advocated for the Administration to increase promotion to State Medicaid programs of adoption of two, new sets of bundled G codes to increase or establish payment for outpatient opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment and treatment services provided by opioid treatment programs (OTPs)
at Medicare payment rates or higher.
Advocated for the Administration to support the following regulatory and administrative efforts that would reduce barriers to accessing addiction treatment:
Creation of safe-harbor provisions to the Anti-Kickback Statute and Eliminating
Kickbacks in Recovery Act Civil, as they may be applied to the implementation of
contingency management (CM) for the treatment of addiction.
Approval of a prescription to over the counter (OTC) switch for at least one naloxone
product. This change would save lives and reduce existing barriers that prevent access to
this critical medication;
Regulatory changes that would allow Medicaid reimbursement for the room and board
portion of SUD residential levels of care that meet level of care standards set forth in The
ASAM Criteria;
Regulatory (or legislative) changes that would create a special registration exemption
for jails, prisons, and their authorized personnel to prescribe and otherwise dispense
controlled medications for initiation, maintenance or withdrawal management of OUD
that is significantly less burdensome than currently applicable registration requirements
in the Controlled Substances Act and related regulations. Such special registration should
not limit the number of persons who are detained or incarcerated who can be treated
with such medications by a qualified practitioner;
Regulatory (or legislative) changes that would allow pharmacy dispensing and/or
administration of methadone that has been prescribed by a legally authorized prescriber
of controlled medications who is affiliated with an OTP or is a board-certified addiction
specialist physician;
Regulatory (or legislative) changes that would make permanent the opioid treatment
program (OTP) flexibilities, including the methadone unsupervised dosing flexibilities,
implemented during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency while continuing study of
the impact of these flexibilities;
Assessment of current opioid order systems and monitoring programs to more fully
understand the potential negative implications for patient access to buprenorphine at
pharmacies and other controlled substance medications used to treat OUD;
In the absence of Congressional action to eliminate the x-waiver, efforts to increase the
DATA 2000 waiver patient limit -- aka, the applicable number;
Issuance of regulations relating to a special registration for telemedicine, as was
directed in Section 3232 of the SUPPORT Act of 2018.
Advocated for the S.834/H.R.2256 Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act, which would increase the number of Medicare GME slots by 14,000 over 7 years, including its inclusion in the next reconciliation package.
Advocated for the Support, Treatment, and Overdose Prevention of (S.T.O.P) Fentanyl Act of 2021 (H.R. 2366 / S. 1457). This legislation would expand fentanyl research and education, enhance overdose prevention and access to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, and provide critical public health data and additional training support for various stakeholders.
Advocated for changes to a draft opioid treatment program bill to make permanent certain COVID-19 flexibilities allowed to states for unsupervised doses, as well as "time in treatment" regulatory changes and to permit pharmacy dispensing of methadone for opioid use disorder treatment for certain experienced cohorts of prescribers.
Advocated for the inclusion of enhanced mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) parity enforcement within the Senates version of the budget reconciliation proposal. These enhanced enforcement measures would authorize the Department of Labor to assess civil monetary penalties against insurers that violate the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. Supported $195 million over five years to the Employee Benefits Security Administration for enforcement.
Advocated for the Moms Matter Act (H.R. 909). The Moms Matter Act is a bipartisan bill that would increase federal funding for culturally congruent, community-based mental and behavior health programs.
Advocated for H.R 1693 / S. 79, the Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law Act. This legislation would eliminate the federal crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparity and apply it retroactively to those already convicted or sentenced.
Supported implemented recommendations regarding the CARES Acts amendment of 42 CFR Part 2 to advance further alignment of 42 CFR Part 2 (Part 2) with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for the purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations (TPO).
Supported the tobacco tax provisions included in the portion of the Build Back Better Act that was approved by the Ways and Means Committee
Supported H.R.4244 - STOP Stigma Act, which would make amendments to the names of certain agencies to help end the stigmatization of substance use disorder, and for other purposes.
Supported draft legislation that would amend the Controlled Substances Act to increase the number of days before which certain controlled substances for maintenance or detoxification treatment must be administered, and for other purposes.
Joined advocacy coalition letter to Chairman Ron Wyden and Ranking Member Mike Crapo of the Senate Committee on Finance, encouraging full extension of federal mental health and substance use disorder parity protections to Medicare, all of Medicaid, and TRICARE.
Sent Congressional letter recommending closer coordination among relevant federal agencies, greater integration between primary care and behavioral health reimbursement, and robust funding for the addiction treatment workforce-- such as the Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program. ASAM also expressed support for legislation to ensure state compliance with mental health and addiction parity law and codification of audio-video telehealth prescribing flexibilities for the treatment of substance use disorder. Finally, ASAM called on federal legislators to consider new and promising strategies like contingency management
Advocated for addiction-related provisions in the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) that would increase access to comprehensive, high-quality addiction care in ways that reduce racial, ethnic, and economic disparities, and make important investments in the addiction medicine workforce.
Sent letter to the FDA responding to their request for feedback in reevaluating the voluntary status of the Opioid Analgesics (OA) Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program. Currently, FDA is considering extending the REMS program to become a mandatory course for all opioid prescribers. Urged against FDA making the REMS program mandatory for all opioid prescribers and identified other strategies to expand provider education more effectively. Primarily, ASAM emphasized the importance of the concurrent passage of the Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act (S 2235/HR 2067) and the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act (S 445/HR 1384).
Advocated for the HR 6279, the Opioid Treatment Access Act that would allow for broader access to methadone for opioid use disorder, including through measured expansion of prescribing/pharmacy dispensing.
Joined coalition letter urging reconsideration of the requirements in the Interim Final Rule (IFR), entitled Requirements Related to Surprise Billing; Part II, 86 Fed. Reg. 55,980 (Oct. 7, 2021), implementing the No Surprises Act (NSA) that directs Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) entities to consider the qualifying payment amount (QPA) a rebuttable presumptive reasonable payment for out-of-network physicians engaging in the IDR process.
Joined coalition letter urging inclusion of provisions in the Administration's budget request for FY 23 that expand the Administrations efforts to reduce tobacco use, which remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.
Urged inclusion of the field of addiction medicine in reauthorizations of several SAMHSA programs as well as conveyed ways to improve clinician access to relevant addiction medicine education
17. House(s) of Congress and Federal agencies Check if None
U.S. SENATE, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Health & Human Services - Dept of (HHS), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Office of Natl Drug Control Policy (NDCP), Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA), Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
18. Name of each individual who acted as a lobbyist in this issue area
First Name | Last Name | Suffix | Covered Official Position (if applicable) | New |
Kelly |
Corredor |
|
|
19. Interest of each foreign entity in the specific issues listed on line 16 above Check if None
LOBBYING ACTIVITY. Select as many codes as necessary to reflect the general issue areas in which the registrant engaged in lobbying on behalf of the client during the reporting period. Using a separate page for each code, provide information as requested. Add additional page(s) as needed.
15. General issue area code MED
16. Specific lobbying issues
Advocated for Increased appropriations for HRSAs Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program. This program provides student loan repayment for addiction treatment professionals who commit to working in underserved or high-risk communities.
Advocated for increased appropriations for HRSAs Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program. This
Program provides grants to institutions with training opportunities for fellows in addiction medicine and addiction psychiatry who have demonstrated interest in providing addiction treatment in underserved communities.
Advocated for increased appropriations for HRSAs Integrated Substance Use Disorder
Training Program. This program provides grants to expand the number of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, psychologists, and social workers trained to provide addiction and mental health services in underserved community-based settings that integrate primary care, mental health, and addiction services.
Advocated for increased appropriations for federal initiatives that lead to a more diverse addiction treatment workforce, such as scholarships and loan repayment targeting
underrepresented minority addiction medicine professionals, including SAMHSAs
Minority Fellowship Program.
Advocated for the alignment of coverage and payment policies in Medicare and Medicaid with evidence-based and nationally recognized addiction treatment and placement criteria and
standards (e.g., The ASAM Criteria). This would include permanent modification to the Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion to allow federal Medicaid funds to serve individuals with SUDs in those residential and inpatient settings that are able to demonstrate that patient assessments, clinical services, level-of-care and length-of-stay recommendations are consistent with The ASAM Criteria and that evidence based medication management using Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medications are available to patients in such settings.
Advocated for regulatory/sub-regulatory/application guidance that would require the use of evidence-based practices in the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) Block Grant,
including requiring each grantee delivering SUD treatment services to provide access to
all FDA-approved medications for SUDs treated by that grantee. Advocated for a requirement that SAPT, State Opioid Response Grant (SOR), and Rural Communities Opioid Response Program grantees that receive grant funds for the delivery of addiction treatment services should be limited to Medicaid providers in order to better integrate federal grant dollars and
Medicaid funds and Administration support for increased oversight and improved mechanisms for ensuring that such funding does not supplant the consistent and scalable funding that Medicaid (or Medicare) provides.
Advocated for S 2235/HR 2067 - Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act of 2021: This legislation would ensure most Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) controlled medication
prescribers have a baseline knowledge of how to identify, treat, and manage patients
with SUD and would allow accredited health professional schools and residency
programs to fulfill the training requirement through their own curricula, as well as provide
them with resources to do so. Advocated for simultaneous passage of S 445/HR 1384 - Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act, which would eliminate the requirement that practitioners apply for a separate waiver through the DEA to prescribe buprenorphine for addiction and eliminate the patient limits on buprenorphine prescribers.
Advocated for S 285/HR 955 - the Medicaid Reentry Act: This legislation would allow for reestablishment of health insurance coverage under Medicaid for eligible individuals who
are incarcerated, during the 30-day period preceding their release from jail or prison.
Advocated for S 1821/HR 3514 - the Humane Correctional Health Care Act, which
would repeal the inmate exclusion that bars the use of federal Medicaid matching funds
from covering health care services in jails and prisons.
Advocated for S1727/HR 3450 - The Medicaid Bump Act of 2021: This legislation would provide an enhanced Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage rate of 90 percent for State Medicaid spending on mental health and substance use disorder services in excess of
2019 levels. It would also require states to use the additional federal funds as a supplement to rather than a replacement for state funding levels, and to use the funds to increase the capacity, efficiency, and quality of behavioral health services, including through increasing provider reimbursement rates.
Advocated for Section 9 of S. 1010 - the Turn the Tide Act - These provisions would increase Medicaid fees for addiction treatment services to at least Medicare levels.
Advocated for HR 1364 - the Parity Enforcement Act: This legislation would expand the U.S. Department of Labors authority to hold health insurers and plan sponsors accountable for offering health plans that violate the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) of 2008 or for employing utilization review processes that prove more restrictive for mental
health and addiction care than for other medical care in violation of the MHPAEA.
Advocated for S 340/HR 1674 - TREATS Act: This legislation would make permanent a new, audio-video, telehealth evaluation exception to the Ryan Haight Acts in-person exam requirement, which would allow clinicians to prescribe certain addiction treatment medications, like buprenorphine, to new patients through telehealth. It would also clarify Medicares
continued ability, beyond the COVID-19 public health emergency, to reimburse for
audio-only, SUD and mental health telehealth services after an in-person or telehealth
evaluation. Provided technical assistance regarding a possible audio-only exception to Ryan Haight for initiation of buprenorphine for OUD.
Advocated for HR 3925 Reducing Barriers to Substance Use Treatment Act: This legislation would prohibit states receiving Federal funding for medication-assisted treatment under Medicaid from imposing utilization control policies or procedures (as defined by the Secretary of
the Department of Health and Human Services), including prior authorization
requirements, with respect to such treatment.
Advocated for the Administration to support continuous collaboration and sharing of information between the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and SAMHSA, which should include new, strategic efforts to provide technical assistance funds to states to support their operation of CMS-approved Section 1115 SUD waivers related to the IMD exclusion and to enhance their care delivery systems for patients.
Advocated for the Administration to increase promotion to State Medicaid programs of adoption of two, new sets of bundled G codes to increase or establish payment for outpatient opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment and treatment services provided by opioid treatment programs (OTPs)
at Medicare payment rates or higher.
Advocated for the Administration to support the following regulatory and administrative efforts that would reduce barriers to accessing addiction treatment:
Creation of safe-harbor provisions to the Anti-Kickback Statute and Eliminating
Kickbacks in Recovery Act Civil, as they may be applied to the implementation of
contingency management (CM) for the treatment of addiction.
Approval of a prescription to over the counter (OTC) switch for at least one naloxone
product. This change would save lives and reduce existing barriers that prevent access to
this critical medication;
Regulatory changes that would allow Medicaid reimbursement for the room and board
portion of SUD residential levels of care that meet level of care standards set forth in The
ASAM Criteria;
Regulatory (or legislative) changes that would create a special registration exemption
for jails, prisons, and their authorized personnel to prescribe and otherwise dispense
controlled medications for initiation, maintenance or withdrawal management of OUD
that is significantly less burdensome than currently applicable registration requirements
in the Controlled Substances Act and related regulations. Such special registration should
not limit the number of persons who are detained or incarcerated who can be treated
with such medications by a qualified practitioner;
Regulatory (or legislative) changes that would allow pharmacy dispensing and/or
administration of methadone that has been prescribed by a legally authorized prescriber
of controlled medications who is affiliated with an OTP or is a board-certified addiction
specialist physician;
Regulatory (or legislative) changes that would make permanent the opioid treatment
program (OTP) flexibilities, including the methadone unsupervised dosing flexibilities,
implemented during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency while continuing study of
the impact of these flexibilities;
Assessment of current opioid order systems and monitoring programs to more fully
understand the potential negative implications for patient access to buprenorphine at
pharmacies and other controlled substance medications used to treat OUD;
In the absence of Congressional action to eliminate the x-waiver, efforts to increase the
DATA 2000 waiver patient limit -- aka, the applicable number;
Issuance of regulations relating to a special registration for telemedicine, as was
directed in Section 3232 of the SUPPORT Act of 2018.
Advocated for the S.834/H.R.2256 Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act, which would increase the number of Medicare GME slots by 14,000 over 7 years, including its inclusion in the next reconciliation package.
Advocated for the Support, Treatment, and Overdose Prevention of (S.T.O.P) Fentanyl Act of 2021 (H.R. 2366 / S. 1457). This legislation would expand fentanyl research and education, enhance overdose prevention and access to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, and provide critical public health data and additional training support for various stakeholders.
Advocated for changes to a draft opioid treatment program bill to make permanent certain COVID-19 flexibilities allowed to states for unsupervised doses, as well as "time in treatment" regulatory changes and to permit pharmacy dispensing of methadone for opioid use disorder treatment for certain experienced cohorts of prescribers.
Advocated for the inclusion of enhanced mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) parity enforcement within the Senates version of the budget reconciliation proposal. These enhanced enforcement measures would authorize the Department of Labor to assess civil monetary penalties against insurers that violate the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. Supported $195 million over five years to the Employee Benefits Security Administration for enforcement.
Advocated for the Moms Matter Act (H.R. 909). The Moms Matter Act is a bipartisan bill that would increase federal funding for culturally congruent, community-based mental and behavior health programs.
Advocated for H.R 1693 / S. 79, the Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law Act. This legislation would eliminate the federal crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparity and apply it retroactively to those already convicted or sentenced.
Supported implemented recommendations regarding the CARES Acts amendment of 42 CFR Part 2 to advance further alignment of 42 CFR Part 2 (Part 2) with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for the purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations (TPO).
Supported the tobacco tax provisions included in the portion of the Build Back Better Act that was approved by the Ways and Means Committee
Supported H.R.4244 - STOP Stigma Act, which would make amendments to the names of certain agencies to help end the stigmatization of substance use disorder, and for other purposes.
Supported draft legislation that would amend the Controlled Substances Act to increase the number of days before which certain controlled substances for maintenance or detoxification treatment must be administered, and for other purposes.
Joined advocacy coalition letter to Chairman Ron Wyden and Ranking Member Mike Crapo of the Senate Committee on Finance, encouraging full extension of federal mental health and substance use disorder parity protections to Medicare, all of Medicaid, and TRICARE.
Sent Congressional letter recommending closer coordination among relevant federal agencies, greater integration between primary care and behavioral health reimbursement, and robust funding for the addiction treatment workforce-- such as the Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program. ASAM also expressed support for legislation to ensure state compliance with mental health and addiction parity law and codification of audio-video telehealth prescribing flexibilities for the treatment of substance use disorder. Finally, ASAM called on federal legislators to consider new and promising strategies like contingency management
Advocated for addiction-related provisions in the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) that would increase access to comprehensive, high-quality addiction care in ways that reduce racial, ethnic, and economic disparities, and make important investments in the addiction medicine workforce.
Sent letter to the FDA responding to their request for feedback in reevaluating the voluntary status of the Opioid Analgesics (OA) Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program. Currently, FDA is considering extending the REMS program to become a mandatory course for all opioid prescribers. Urged against FDA making the REMS program mandatory for all opioid prescribers and identified other strategies to expand provider education more effectively. Primarily, ASAM emphasized the importance of the concurrent passage of the Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act (S 2235/HR 2067) and the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act (S 445/HR 1384).
Advocated for the HR 6279, the Opioid Treatment Access Act that would allow for broader access to methadone for opioid use disorder, including through measured expansion of prescribing/pharmacy dispensing.
Joined coalition letter urging reconsideration of the requirements in the Interim Final Rule (IFR), entitled Requirements Related to Surprise Billing; Part II, 86 Fed. Reg. 55,980 (Oct. 7, 2021), implementing the No Surprises Act (NSA) that directs Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) entities to consider the qualifying payment amount (QPA) a rebuttable presumptive reasonable payment for out-of-network physicians engaging in the IDR process.
Joined coalition letter urging inclusion of provisions in the Administration's budget request for FY 23 that expand the Administrations efforts to reduce tobacco use, which remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.
Urged inclusion of the field of addiction medicine in reauthorizations of several SAMHSA programs as well as conveyed ways to improve clinician access to relevant addiction medicine education
17. House(s) of Congress and Federal agencies Check if None
U.S. SENATE, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Health & Human Services - Dept of (HHS), Office of Natl Drug Control Policy (NDCP), Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA), Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
18. Name of each individual who acted as a lobbyist in this issue area
First Name | Last Name | Suffix | Covered Official Position (if applicable) | New |
Kelly |
Corredor |
|
|
19. Interest of each foreign entity in the specific issues listed on line 16 above Check if None
LOBBYING ACTIVITY. Select as many codes as necessary to reflect the general issue areas in which the registrant engaged in lobbying on behalf of the client during the reporting period. Using a separate page for each code, provide information as requested. Add additional page(s) as needed.
15. General issue area code MMM
16. Specific lobbying issues
Advocated for Increased appropriations for HRSAs Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program. This program provides student loan repayment for addiction treatment professionals who commit to working in underserved or high-risk communities.
Advocated for increased appropriations for HRSAs Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program. This
Program provides grants to institutions with training opportunities for fellows in addiction medicine and addiction psychiatry who have demonstrated interest in providing addiction treatment in underserved communities.
Advocated for increased appropriations for HRSAs Integrated Substance Use Disorder
Training Program. This program provides grants to expand the number of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, psychologists, and social workers trained to provide addiction and mental health services in underserved community-based settings that integrate primary care, mental health, and addiction services.
Advocated for increased appropriations for federal initiatives that lead to a more diverse addiction treatment workforce, such as scholarships and loan repayment targeting
underrepresented minority addiction medicine professionals, including SAMHSAs
Minority Fellowship Program.
Advocated for the alignment of coverage and payment policies in Medicare and Medicaid with evidence-based and nationally recognized addiction treatment and placement criteria and
standards (e.g., The ASAM Criteria). This would include permanent modification to the Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion to allow federal Medicaid funds to serve individuals with SUDs in those residential and inpatient settings that are able to demonstrate that patient assessments, clinical services, level-of-care and length-of-stay recommendations are consistent with The ASAM Criteria and that evidence based medication management using Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medications are available to patients in such settings.
Advocated for regulatory/sub-regulatory/application guidance that would require the use of evidence-based practices in the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) Block Grant,
including requiring each grantee delivering SUD treatment services to provide access to
all FDA-approved medications for SUDs treated by that grantee. Advocated for a requirement that SAPT, State Opioid Response Grant (SOR), and Rural Communities Opioid Response Program grantees that receive grant funds for the delivery of addiction treatment services should be limited to Medicaid providers in order to better integrate federal grant dollars and
Medicaid funds and Administration support for increased oversight and improved mechanisms for ensuring that such funding does not supplant the consistent and scalable funding that Medicaid (or Medicare) provides.
Advocated for S 2235/HR 2067 - Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act of 2021: This legislation would ensure most Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) controlled medication
prescribers have a baseline knowledge of how to identify, treat, and manage patients
with SUD and would allow accredited health professional schools and residency
programs to fulfill the training requirement through their own curricula, as well as provide
them with resources to do so. Advocated for simultaneous passage of S 445/HR 1384 - Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act, which would eliminate the requirement that practitioners apply for a separate waiver through the DEA to prescribe buprenorphine for addiction and eliminate the patient limits on buprenorphine prescribers.
Advocated for S 285/HR 955 - the Medicaid Reentry Act: This legislation would allow for reestablishment of health insurance coverage under Medicaid for eligible individuals who
are incarcerated, during the 30-day period preceding their release from jail or prison.
Advocated for S 1821/HR 3514 - the Humane Correctional Health Care Act, which
would repeal the inmate exclusion that bars the use of federal Medicaid matching funds
from covering health care services in jails and prisons.
Advocated for S1727/HR 3450 - The Medicaid Bump Act of 2021: This legislation would provide an enhanced Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage rate of 90 percent for State Medicaid spending on mental health and substance use disorder services in excess of
2019 levels. It would also require states to use the additional federal funds as a supplement to rather than a replacement for state funding levels, and to use the funds to increase the capacity, efficiency, and quality of behavioral health services, including through increasing provider reimbursement rates.
Advocated for Section 9 of S. 1010 - the Turn the Tide Act - These provisions would increase Medicaid fees for addiction treatment services to at least Medicare levels.
Advocated for HR 1364 - the Parity Enforcement Act: This legislation would expand the U.S. Department of Labors authority to hold health insurers and plan sponsors accountable for offering health plans that violate the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) of 2008 or for employing utilization review processes that prove more restrictive for mental
health and addiction care than for other medical care in violation of the MHPAEA.
Advocated for S 340/HR 1674 - TREATS Act: This legislation would make permanent a new, audio-video, telehealth evaluation exception to the Ryan Haight Acts in-person exam requirement, which would allow clinicians to prescribe certain addiction treatment medications, like buprenorphine, to new patients through telehealth. It would also clarify Medicares
continued ability, beyond the COVID-19 public health emergency, to reimburse for
audio-only, SUD and mental health telehealth services after an in-person or telehealth
evaluation. Provided technical assistance regarding a possible audio-only exception to Ryan Haight for initiation of buprenorphine for OUD.
Advocated for HR 3925 Reducing Barriers to Substance Use Treatment Act: This legislation would prohibit states receiving Federal funding for medication-assisted treatment under Medicaid from imposing utilization control policies or procedures (as defined by the Secretary of
the Department of Health and Human Services), including prior authorization
requirements, with respect to such treatment.
Advocated for the Administration to support continuous collaboration and sharing of information between the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and SAMHSA, which should include new, strategic efforts to provide technical assistance funds to states to support their operation of CMS-approved Section 1115 SUD waivers related to the IMD exclusion and to enhance their care delivery systems for patients.
Advocated for the Administration to increase promotion to State Medicaid programs of adoption of two, new sets of bundled G codes to increase or establish payment for outpatient opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment and treatment services provided by opioid treatment programs (OTPs)
at Medicare payment rates or higher.
Advocated for the Administration to support the following regulatory and administrative efforts that would reduce barriers to accessing addiction treatment:
Creation of safe-harbor provisions to the Anti-Kickback Statute and Eliminating
Kickbacks in Recovery Act Civil, as they may be applied to the implementation of
contingency management (CM) for the treatment of addiction.
Approval of a prescription to over the counter (OTC) switch for at least one naloxone
product. This change would save lives and reduce existing barriers that prevent access to
this critical medication;
Regulatory changes that would allow Medicaid reimbursement for the room and board
portion of SUD residential levels of care that meet level of care standards set forth in The
ASAM Criteria;
Regulatory (or legislative) changes that would create a special registration exemption
for jails, prisons, and their authorized personnel to prescribe and otherwise dispense
controlled medications for initiation, maintenance or withdrawal management of OUD
that is significantly less burdensome than currently applicable registration requirements
in the Controlled Substances Act and related regulations. Such special registration should
not limit the number of persons who are detained or incarcerated who can be treated
with such medications by a qualified practitioner;
Regulatory (or legislative) changes that would allow pharmacy dispensing and/or
administration of methadone that has been prescribed by a legally authorized prescriber
of controlled medications who is affiliated with an OTP or is a board-certified addiction
specialist physician;
Regulatory (or legislative) changes that would make permanent the opioid treatment
program (OTP) flexibilities, including the methadone unsupervised dosing flexibilities,
implemented during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency while continuing study of
the impact of these flexibilities;
Assessment of current opioid order systems and monitoring programs to more fully
understand the potential negative implications for patient access to buprenorphine at
pharmacies and other controlled substance medications used to treat OUD;
In the absence of Congressional action to eliminate the x-waiver, efforts to increase the
DATA 2000 waiver patient limit -- aka, the applicable number;
Issuance of regulations relating to a special registration for telemedicine, as was
directed in Section 3232 of the SUPPORT Act of 2018.
Advocated for the S.834/H.R.2256 Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act, which would increase the number of Medicare GME slots by 14,000 over 7 years, including its inclusion in the next reconciliation package.
Advocated for the Support, Treatment, and Overdose Prevention of (S.T.O.P) Fentanyl Act of 2021 (H.R. 2366 / S. 1457). This legislation would expand fentanyl research and education, enhance overdose prevention and access to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, and provide critical public health data and additional training support for various stakeholders.
Advocated for changes to a draft opioid treatment program bill to make permanent certain COVID-19 flexibilities allowed to states for unsupervised doses, as well as "time in treatment" regulatory changes and to permit pharmacy dispensing of methadone for opioid use disorder treatment for certain experienced cohorts of prescribers.
Advocated for the inclusion of enhanced mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) parity enforcement within the Senates version of the budget reconciliation proposal. These enhanced enforcement measures would authorize the Department of Labor to assess civil monetary penalties against insurers that violate the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. Supported $195 million over five years to the Employee Benefits Security Administration for enforcement.
Advocated for the Moms Matter Act (H.R. 909). The Moms Matter Act is a bipartisan bill that would increase federal funding for culturally congruent, community-based mental and behavior health programs.
Advocated for H.R 1693 / S. 79, the Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law Act. This legislation would eliminate the federal crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparity and apply it retroactively to those already convicted or sentenced.
Supported implemented recommendations regarding the CARES Acts amendment of 42 CFR Part 2 to advance further alignment of 42 CFR Part 2 (Part 2) with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for the purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations (TPO).
Supported the tobacco tax provisions included in the portion of the Build Back Better Act that was approved by the Ways and Means Committee
Supported H.R.4244 - STOP Stigma Act, which would make amendments to the names of certain agencies to help end the stigmatization of substance use disorder, and for other purposes.
Supported draft legislation that would amend the Controlled Substances Act to increase the number of days before which certain controlled substances for maintenance or detoxification treatment must be administered, and for other purposes.
Joined advocacy coalition letter to Chairman Ron Wyden and Ranking Member Mike Crapo of the Senate Committee on Finance, encouraging full extension of federal mental health and substance use disorder parity protections to Medicare, all of Medicaid, and TRICARE.
Sent Congressional letter recommending closer coordination among relevant federal agencies, greater integration between primary care and behavioral health reimbursement, and robust funding for the addiction treatment workforce-- such as the Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program. ASAM also expressed support for legislation to ensure state compliance with mental health and addiction parity law and codification of audio-video telehealth prescribing flexibilities for the treatment of substance use disorder. Finally, ASAM called on federal legislators to consider new and promising strategies like contingency management
Advocated for addiction-related provisions in the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) that would increase access to comprehensive, high-quality addiction care in ways that reduce racial, ethnic, and economic disparities, and make important investments in the addiction medicine workforce.
Sent letter to the FDA responding to their request for feedback in reevaluating the voluntary status of the Opioid Analgesics (OA) Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program. Currently, FDA is considering extending the REMS program to become a mandatory course for all opioid prescribers. Urged against FDA making the REMS program mandatory for all opioid prescribers and identified other strategies to expand provider education more effectively. Primarily, ASAM emphasized the importance of the concurrent passage of the Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act (S 2235/HR 2067) and the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act (S 445/HR 1384).
Advocated for the HR 6279, the Opioid Treatment Access Act that would allow for broader access to methadone for opioid use disorder, including through measured expansion of prescribing/pharmacy dispensing.
Joined coalition letter urging reconsideration of the requirements in the Interim Final Rule (IFR), entitled Requirements Related to Surprise Billing; Part II, 86 Fed. Reg. 55,980 (Oct. 7, 2021), implementing the No Surprises Act (NSA) that directs Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) entities to consider the qualifying payment amount (QPA) a rebuttable presumptive reasonable payment for out-of-network physicians engaging in the IDR process.
Joined coalition letter urging inclusion of provisions in the Administration's budget request for FY 23 that expand the Administrations efforts to reduce tobacco use, which remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.
Urged inclusion of the field of addiction medicine in reauthorizations of several SAMHSA programs as well as conveyed ways to improve clinician access to relevant addiction medicine education
17. House(s) of Congress and Federal agencies Check if None
U.S. SENATE, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Health & Human Services - Dept of (HHS), Office of Natl Drug Control Policy (NDCP), Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Food & Drug Administration (FDA), Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)
18. Name of each individual who acted as a lobbyist in this issue area
First Name | Last Name | Suffix | Covered Official Position (if applicable) | New |
Kelly |
Corredor |
|
|
19. Interest of each foreign entity in the specific issues listed on line 16 above Check if None
LOBBYING ACTIVITY. Select as many codes as necessary to reflect the general issue areas in which the registrant engaged in lobbying on behalf of the client during the reporting period. Using a separate page for each code, provide information as requested. Add additional page(s) as needed.
15. General issue area code BUD
16. Specific lobbying issues
Advocated for Increased appropriations for HRSAs Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program. This program provides student loan repayment for addiction treatment professionals who commit to working in underserved or high-risk communities.
Advocated for increased appropriations for HRSAs Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program. This
Program provides grants to institutions with training opportunities for fellows in addiction medicine and addiction psychiatry who have demonstrated interest in providing addiction treatment in underserved communities.
Advocated for increased appropriations for HRSAs Integrated Substance Use Disorder
Training Program. This program provides grants to expand the number of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, psychologists, and social workers trained to provide addiction and mental health services in underserved community-based settings that integrate primary care, mental health, and addiction services.
Advocated for increased appropriations for federal initiatives that lead to a more diverse addiction treatment workforce, such as scholarships and loan repayment targeting
underrepresented minority addiction medicine professionals, including SAMHSAs
Minority Fellowship Program.
Advocated for the alignment of coverage and payment policies in Medicare and Medicaid with evidence-based and nationally recognized addiction treatment and placement criteria and
standards (e.g., The ASAM Criteria). This would include permanent modification to the Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion to allow federal Medicaid funds to serve individuals with SUDs in those residential and inpatient settings that are able to demonstrate that patient assessments, clinical services, level-of-care and length-of-stay recommendations are consistent with The ASAM Criteria and that evidence based medication management using Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medications are available to patients in such settings.
Advocated for regulatory/sub-regulatory/application guidance that would require the use of evidence-based practices in the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) Block Grant,
including requiring each grantee delivering SUD treatment services to provide access to
all FDA-approved medications for SUDs treated by that grantee. Advocated for a requirement that SAPT, State Opioid Response Grant (SOR), and Rural Communities Opioid Response Program grantees that receive grant funds for the delivery of addiction treatment services should be limited to Medicaid providers in order to better integrate federal grant dollars and
Medicaid funds and Administration support for increased oversight and improved mechanisms for ensuring that such funding does not supplant the consistent and scalable funding that Medicaid (or Medicare) provides.
Advocated for S 2235/HR 2067 - Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act of 2021: This legislation would ensure most Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) controlled medication
prescribers have a baseline knowledge of how to identify, treat, and manage patients
with SUD and would allow accredited health professional schools and residency
programs to fulfill the training requirement through their own curricula, as well as provide
them with resources to do so. Advocated for simultaneous passage of S 445/HR 1384 - Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act, which would eliminate the requirement that practitioners apply for a separate waiver through the DEA to prescribe buprenorphine for addiction and eliminate the patient limits on buprenorphine prescribers.
Advocated for S 285/HR 955 - the Medicaid Reentry Act: This legislation would allow for reestablishment of health insurance coverage under Medicaid for eligible individuals who
are incarcerated, during the 30-day period preceding their release from jail or prison.
Advocated for S 1821/HR 3514 - the Humane Correctional Health Care Act, which
would repeal the inmate exclusion that bars the use of federal Medicaid matching funds
from covering health care services in jails and prisons.
Advocated for S1727/HR 3450 - The Medicaid Bump Act of 2021: This legislation would provide an enhanced Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage rate of 90 percent for State Medicaid spending on mental health and substance use disorder services in excess of
2019 levels. It would also require states to use the additional federal funds as a supplement to rather than a replacement for state funding levels, and to use the funds to increase the capacity, efficiency, and quality of behavioral health services, including through increasing provider reimbursement rates.
Advocated for Section 9 of S. 1010 - the Turn the Tide Act - These provisions would increase Medicaid fees for addiction treatment services to at least Medicare levels.
Advocated for HR 1364 - the Parity Enforcement Act: This legislation would expand the U.S. Department of Labors authority to hold health insurers and plan sponsors accountable for offering health plans that violate the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) of 2008 or for employing utilization review processes that prove more restrictive for mental
health and addiction care than for other medical care in violation of the MHPAEA.
Advocated for S 340/HR 1674 - TREATS Act: This legislation would make permanent a new, audio-video, telehealth evaluation exception to the Ryan Haight Acts in-person exam requirement, which would allow clinicians to prescribe certain addiction treatment medications, like buprenorphine, to new patients through telehealth. It would also clarify Medicares
continued ability, beyond the COVID-19 public health emergency, to reimburse for
audio-only, SUD and mental health telehealth services after an in-person or telehealth
evaluation. Provided technical assistance regarding a possible audio-only exception to Ryan Haight for initiation of buprenorphine for OUD.
Advocated for HR 3925 Reducing Barriers to Substance Use Treatment Act: This legislation would prohibit states receiving Federal funding for medication-assisted treatment under Medicaid from imposing utilization control policies or procedures (as defined by the Secretary of
the Department of Health and Human Services), including prior authorization
requirements, with respect to such treatment.
Advocated for the Administration to support continuous collaboration and sharing of information between the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and SAMHSA, which should include new, strategic efforts to provide technical assistance funds to states to support their operation of CMS-approved Section 1115 SUD waivers related to the IMD exclusion and to enhance their care delivery systems for patients.
Advocated for the Administration to increase promotion to State Medicaid programs of adoption of two, new sets of bundled G codes to increase or establish payment for outpatient opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment and treatment services provided by opioid treatment programs (OTPs)
at Medicare payment rates or higher.
Advocated for the Administration to support the following regulatory and administrative efforts that would reduce barriers to accessing addiction treatment:
Creation of safe-harbor provisions to the Anti-Kickback Statute and Eliminating
Kickbacks in Recovery Act Civil, as they may be applied to the implementation of
contingency management (CM) for the treatment of addiction.
Approval of a prescription to over the counter (OTC) switch for at least one naloxone
product. This change would save lives and reduce existing barriers that prevent access to
this critical medication;
Regulatory changes that would allow Medicaid reimbursement for the room and board
portion of SUD residential levels of care that meet level of care standards set forth in The
ASAM Criteria;
Regulatory (or legislative) changes that would create a special registration exemption
for jails, prisons, and their authorized personnel to prescribe and otherwise dispense
controlled medications for initiation, maintenance or withdrawal management of OUD
that is significantly less burdensome than currently applicable registration requirements
in the Controlled Substances Act and related regulations. Such special registration should
not limit the number of persons who are detained or incarcerated who can be treated
with such medications by a qualified practitioner;
Regulatory (or legislative) changes that would allow pharmacy dispensing and/or
administration of methadone that has been prescribed by a legally authorized prescriber
of controlled medications who is affiliated with an OTP or is a board-certified addiction
specialist physician;
Regulatory (or legislative) changes that would make permanent the opioid treatment
program (OTP) flexibilities, including the methadone unsupervised dosing flexibilities,
implemented during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency while continuing study of
the impact of these flexibilities;
Assessment of current opioid order systems and monitoring programs to more fully
understand the potential negative implications for patient access to buprenorphine at
pharmacies and other controlled substance medications used to treat OUD;
In the absence of Congressional action to eliminate the x-waiver, efforts to increase the
DATA 2000 waiver patient limit -- aka, the applicable number;
Issuance of regulations relating to a special registration for telemedicine, as was
directed in Section 3232 of the SUPPORT Act of 2018.
Advocated for the S.834/H.R.2256 Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act, which would increase the number of Medicare GME slots by 14,000 over 7 years, including its inclusion in the next reconciliation package.
Advocated for the Support, Treatment, and Overdose Prevention of (S.T.O.P) Fentanyl Act of 2021 (H.R. 2366 / S. 1457). This legislation would expand fentanyl research and education, enhance overdose prevention and access to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, and provide critical public health data and additional training support for various stakeholders.
Advocated for changes to a draft opioid treatment program bill to make permanent certain COVID-19 flexibilities allowed to states for unsupervised doses, as well as "time in treatment" regulatory changes and to permit pharmacy dispensing of methadone for opioid use disorder treatment for certain experienced cohorts of prescribers.
Advocated for the inclusion of enhanced mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) parity enforcement within the Senates version of the budget reconciliation proposal. These enhanced enforcement measures would authorize the Department of Labor to assess civil monetary penalties against insurers that violate the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. Supported $195 million over five years to the Employee Benefits Security Administration for enforcement.
Advocated for the Moms Matter Act (H.R. 909). The Moms Matter Act is a bipartisan bill that would increase federal funding for culturally congruent, community-based mental and behavior health programs.
Advocated for H.R 1693 / S. 79, the Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law Act. This legislation would eliminate the federal crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparity and apply it retroactively to those already convicted or sentenced.
Supported implemented recommendations regarding the CARES Acts amendment of 42 CFR Part 2 to advance further alignment of 42 CFR Part 2 (Part 2) with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for the purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations (TPO).
Supported the tobacco tax provisions included in the portion of the Build Back Better Act that was approved by the Ways and Means Committee
Supported H.R.4244 - STOP Stigma Act, which would make amendments to the names of certain agencies to help end the stigmatization of substance use disorder, and for other purposes.
Supported draft legislation that would amend the Controlled Substances Act to increase the number of days before which certain controlled substances for maintenance or detoxification treatment must be administered, and for other purposes.
Joined advocacy coalition letter to Chairman Ron Wyden and Ranking Member Mike Crapo of the Senate Committee on Finance, encouraging full extension of federal mental health and substance use disorder parity protections to Medicare, all of Medicaid, and TRICARE.
Sent Congressional letter recommending closer coordination among relevant federal agencies, greater integration between primary care and behavioral health reimbursement, and robust funding for the addiction treatment workforce-- such as the Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program. ASAM also expressed support for legislation to ensure state compliance with mental health and addiction parity law and codification of audio-video telehealth prescribing flexibilities for the treatment of substance use disorder. Finally, ASAM called on federal legislators to consider new and promising strategies like contingency management
Advocated for addiction-related provisions in the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) that would increase access to comprehensive, high-quality addiction care in ways that reduce racial, ethnic, and economic disparities, and make important investments in the addiction medicine workforce.
Sent letter to the FDA responding to their request for feedback in reevaluating the voluntary status of the Opioid Analgesics (OA) Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program. Currently, FDA is considering extending the REMS program to become a mandatory course for all opioid prescribers. Urged against FDA making the REMS program mandatory for all opioid prescribers and identified other strategies to expand provider education more effectively. Primarily, ASAM emphasized the importance of the concurrent passage of the Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act (S 2235/HR 2067) and the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act (S 445/HR 1384).
Advocated for the HR 6279, the Opioid Treatment Access Act that would allow for broader access to methadone for opioid use disorder, including through measured expansion of prescribing/pharmacy dispensing.
Joined coalition letter urging reconsideration of the requirements in the Interim Final Rule (IFR), entitled Requirements Related to Surprise Billing; Part II, 86 Fed. Reg. 55,980 (Oct. 7, 2021), implementing the No Surprises Act (NSA) that directs Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) entities to consider the qualifying payment amount (QPA) a rebuttable presumptive reasonable payment for out-of-network physicians engaging in the IDR process.
Joined coalition letter urging inclusion of provisions in the Administration's budget request for FY 23 that expand the Administrations efforts to reduce tobacco use, which remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.
Urged inclusion of the field of addiction medicine in reauthorizations of several SAMHSA programs as well as conveyed ways to improve clinician access to relevant addiction medicine education
17. House(s) of Congress and Federal agencies Check if None
U.S. SENATE, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Health & Human Services - Dept of (HHS), Office of Natl Drug Control Policy (NDCP), Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA), Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
18. Name of each individual who acted as a lobbyist in this issue area
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Kelly |
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19. Interest of each foreign entity in the specific issues listed on line 16 above Check if None
LOBBYING ACTIVITY. Select as many codes as necessary to reflect the general issue areas in which the registrant engaged in lobbying on behalf of the client during the reporting period. Using a separate page for each code, provide information as requested. Add additional page(s) as needed.
15. General issue area code INS
16. Specific lobbying issues
Advocated for Increased appropriations for HRSAs Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program. This program provides student loan repayment for addiction treatment professionals who commit to working in underserved or high-risk communities.
Advocated for increased appropriations for HRSAs Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program. This
Program provides grants to institutions with training opportunities for fellows in addiction medicine and addiction psychiatry who have demonstrated interest in providing addiction treatment in underserved communities.
Advocated for increased appropriations for HRSAs Integrated Substance Use Disorder
Training Program. This program provides grants to expand the number of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, psychologists, and social workers trained to provide addiction and mental health services in underserved community-based settings that integrate primary care, mental health, and addiction services.
Advocated for increased appropriations for federal initiatives that lead to a more diverse addiction treatment workforce, such as scholarships and loan repayment targeting
underrepresented minority addiction medicine professionals, including SAMHSAs
Minority Fellowship Program.
Advocated for the alignment of coverage and payment policies in Medicare and Medicaid with evidence-based and nationally recognized addiction treatment and placement criteria and
standards (e.g., The ASAM Criteria). This would include permanent modification to the Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion to allow federal Medicaid funds to serve individuals with SUDs in those residential and inpatient settings that are able to demonstrate that patient assessments, clinical services, level-of-care and length-of-stay recommendations are consistent with The ASAM Criteria and that evidence based medication management using Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medications are available to patients in such settings.
Advocated for regulatory/sub-regulatory/application guidance that would require the use of evidence-based practices in the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) Block Grant,
including requiring each grantee delivering SUD treatment services to provide access to
all FDA-approved medications for SUDs treated by that grantee. Advocated for a requirement that SAPT, State Opioid Response Grant (SOR), and Rural Communities Opioid Response Program grantees that receive grant funds for the delivery of addiction treatment services should be limited to Medicaid providers in order to better integrate federal grant dollars and
Medicaid funds and Administration support for increased oversight and improved mechanisms for ensuring that such funding does not supplant the consistent and scalable funding that Medicaid (or Medicare) provides.
Advocated for S 2235/HR 2067 - Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act of 2021: This legislation would ensure most Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) controlled medication
prescribers have a baseline knowledge of how to identify, treat, and manage patients
with SUD and would allow accredited health professional schools and residency
programs to fulfill the training requirement through their own curricula, as well as provide
them with resources to do so. Advocated for simultaneous passage of S 445/HR 1384 - Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act, which would eliminate the requirement that practitioners apply for a separate waiver through the DEA to prescribe buprenorphine for addiction and eliminate the patient limits on buprenorphine prescribers.
Advocated for S 285/HR 955 - the Medicaid Reentry Act: This legislation would allow for reestablishment of health insurance coverage under Medicaid for eligible individuals who
are incarcerated, during the 30-day period preceding their release from jail or prison.
Advocated for S 1821/HR 3514 - the Humane Correctional Health Care Act, which
would repeal the inmate exclusion that bars the use of federal Medicaid matching funds
from covering health care services in jails and prisons.
Advocated for S1727/HR 3450 - The Medicaid Bump Act of 2021: This legislation would provide an enhanced Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage rate of 90 percent for State Medicaid spending on mental health and substance use disorder services in excess of
2019 levels. It would also require states to use the additional federal funds as a supplement to rather than a replacement for state funding levels, and to use the funds to increase the capacity, efficiency, and quality of behavioral health services, including through increasing provider reimbursement rates.
Advocated for Section 9 of S. 1010 - the Turn the Tide Act - These provisions would increase Medicaid fees for addiction treatment services to at least Medicare levels.
Advocated for HR 1364 - the Parity Enforcement Act: This legislation would expand the U.S. Department of Labors authority to hold health insurers and plan sponsors accountable for offering health plans that violate the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) of 2008 or for employing utilization review processes that prove more restrictive for mental
health and addiction care than for other medical care in violation of the MHPAEA.
Advocated for S 340/HR 1674 - TREATS Act: This legislation would make permanent a new, audio-video, telehealth evaluation exception to the Ryan Haight Acts in-person exam requirement, which would allow clinicians to prescribe certain addiction treatment medications, like buprenorphine, to new patients through telehealth. It would also clarify Medicares
continued ability, beyond the COVID-19 public health emergency, to reimburse for
audio-only, SUD and mental health telehealth services after an in-person or telehealth
evaluation. Provided technical assistance regarding a possible audio-only exception to Ryan Haight for initiation of buprenorphine for OUD.
Advocated for HR 3925 Reducing Barriers to Substance Use Treatment Act: This legislation would prohibit states receiving Federal funding for medication-assisted treatment under Medicaid from imposing utilization control policies or procedures (as defined by the Secretary of
the Department of Health and Human Services), including prior authorization
requirements, with respect to such treatment.
Advocated for the Administration to support continuous collaboration and sharing of information between the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and SAMHSA, which should include new, strategic efforts to provide technical assistance funds to states to support their operation of CMS-approved Section 1115 SUD waivers related to the IMD exclusion and to enhance their care delivery systems for patients.
Advocated for the Administration to increase promotion to State Medicaid programs of adoption of two, new sets of bundled G codes to increase or establish payment for outpatient opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment and treatment services provided by opioid treatment programs (OTPs)
at Medicare payment rates or higher.
Advocated for the Administration to support the following regulatory and administrative efforts that would reduce barriers to accessing addiction treatment:
Creation of safe-harbor provisions to the Anti-Kickback Statute and Eliminating
Kickbacks in Recovery Act Civil, as they may be applied to the implementation of
contingency management (CM) for the treatment of addiction.
Approval of a prescription to over the counter (OTC) switch for at least one naloxone
product. This change would save lives and reduce existing barriers that prevent access to
this critical medication;
Regulatory changes that would allow Medicaid reimbursement for the room and board
portion of SUD residential levels of care that meet level of care standards set forth in The
ASAM Criteria;
Regulatory (or legislative) changes that would create a special registration exemption
for jails, prisons, and their authorized personnel to prescribe and otherwise dispense
controlled medications for initiation, maintenance or withdrawal management of OUD
that is significantly less burdensome than currently applicable registration requirements
in the Controlled Substances Act and related regulations. Such special registration should
not limit the number of persons who are detained or incarcerated who can be treated
with such medications by a qualified practitioner;
Regulatory (or legislative) changes that would allow pharmacy dispensing and/or
administration of methadone that has been prescribed by a legally authorized prescriber
of controlled medications who is affiliated with an OTP or is a board-certified addiction
specialist physician;
Regulatory (or legislative) changes that would make permanent the opioid treatment
program (OTP) flexibilities, including the methadone unsupervised dosing flexibilities,
implemented during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency while continuing study of
the impact of these flexibilities;
Assessment of current opioid order systems and monitoring programs to more fully
understand the potential negative implications for patient access to buprenorphine at
pharmacies and other controlled substance medications used to treat OUD;
In the absence of Congressional action to eliminate the x-waiver, efforts to increase the
DATA 2000 waiver patient limit -- aka, the applicable number;
Issuance of regulations relating to a special registration for telemedicine, as was
directed in Section 3232 of the SUPPORT Act of 2018.
Advocated for the S.834/H.R.2256 Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act, which would increase the number of Medicare GME slots by 14,000 over 7 years, including its inclusion in the next reconciliation package.
Advocated for the Support, Treatment, and Overdose Prevention of (S.T.O.P) Fentanyl Act of 2021 (H.R. 2366 / S. 1457). This legislation would expand fentanyl research and education, enhance overdose prevention and access to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, and provide critical public health data and additional training support for various stakeholders.
Advocated for changes to a draft opioid treatment program bill to make permanent certain COVID-19 flexibilities allowed to states for unsupervised doses, as well as "time in treatment" regulatory changes and to permit pharmacy dispensing of methadone for opioid use disorder treatment for certain experienced cohorts of prescribers.
Advocated for the inclusion of enhanced mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) parity enforcement within the Senates version of the budget reconciliation proposal. These enhanced enforcement measures would authorize the Department of Labor to assess civil monetary penalties against insurers that violate the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. Supported $195 million over five years to the Employee Benefits Security Administration for enforcement.
Advocated for the Moms Matter Act (H.R. 909). The Moms Matter Act is a bipartisan bill that would increase federal funding for culturally congruent, community-based mental and behavior health programs.
Advocated for H.R 1693 / S. 79, the Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law Act. This legislation would eliminate the federal crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparity and apply it retroactively to those already convicted or sentenced.
Supported implemented recommendations regarding the CARES Acts amendment of 42 CFR Part 2 to advance further alignment of 42 CFR Part 2 (Part 2) with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for the purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations (TPO).
Supported the tobacco tax provisions included in the portion of the Build Back Better Act that was approved by the Ways and Means Committee
Supported H.R.4244 - STOP Stigma Act, which would make amendments to the names of certain agencies to help end the stigmatization of substance use disorder, and for other purposes.
Supported draft legislation that would amend the Controlled Substances Act to increase the number of days before which certain controlled substances for maintenance or detoxification treatment must be administered, and for other purposes.
Joined advocacy coalition letter to Chairman Ron Wyden and Ranking Member Mike Crapo of the Senate Committee on Finance, encouraging full extension of federal mental health and substance use disorder parity protections to Medicare, all of Medicaid, and TRICARE.
Sent Congressional letter recommending closer coordination among relevant federal agencies, greater integration between primary care and behavioral health reimbursement, and robust funding for the addiction treatment workforce-- such as the Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program. ASAM also expressed support for legislation to ensure state compliance with mental health and addiction parity law and codification of audio-video telehealth prescribing flexibilities for the treatment of substance use disorder. Finally, ASAM called on federal legislators to consider new and promising strategies like contingency management
Advocated for addiction-related provisions in the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) that would increase access to comprehensive, high-quality addiction care in ways that reduce racial, ethnic, and economic disparities, and make important investments in the addiction medicine workforce.
Sent letter to the FDA responding to their request for feedback in reevaluating the voluntary status of the Opioid Analgesics (OA) Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program. Currently, FDA is considering extending the REMS program to become a mandatory course for all opioid prescribers. Urged against FDA making the REMS program mandatory for all opioid prescribers and identified other strategies to expand provider education more effectively. Primarily, ASAM emphasized the importance of the concurrent passage of the Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act (S 2235/HR 2067) and the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act (S 445/HR 1384).
Advocated for the HR 6279, the Opioid Treatment Access Act that would allow for broader access to methadone for opioid use disorder, including through measured expansion of prescribing/pharmacy dispensing.
Joined coalition letter urging reconsideration of the requirements in the Interim Final Rule (IFR), entitled Requirements Related to Surprise Billing; Part II, 86 Fed. Reg. 55,980 (Oct. 7, 2021), implementing the No Surprises Act (NSA) that directs Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) entities to consider the qualifying payment amount (QPA) a rebuttable presumptive reasonable payment for out-of-network physicians engaging in the IDR process.
Joined coalition letter urging inclusion of provisions in the Administration's budget request for FY 23 that expand the Administrations efforts to reduce tobacco use, which remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.
Urged inclusion of the field of addiction medicine in reauthorizations of several SAMHSA programs as well as conveyed ways to improve clinician access to relevant addiction medicine education
17. House(s) of Congress and Federal agencies Check if None
U.S. SENATE, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Health & Human Services - Dept of (HHS), Office of Natl Drug Control Policy (NDCP), Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA), Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
18. Name of each individual who acted as a lobbyist in this issue area
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19. Interest of each foreign entity in the specific issues listed on line 16 above Check if None
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LOBBYIST UPDATE
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FOREIGN ENTITIES
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CONVICTIONS DISCLOSURE
29. Have any of the lobbyists listed on this report been convicted in a Federal or State Court of an offense involving bribery,
extortion, embezzlement, an illegal kickback, tax evasion, fraud, a conflict of interest, making a false statement, perjury, or money laundering?
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