SPONSOR:

Rep. Seigfried & Sen. Lockman

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

150th GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 6

DIRECTING THE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CONSORTIUM TO ISSUE LEGISLATIVE AND REGULATORY RECOMMENDATIONS TO INCREASE THE TOTAL NUMBER OF BUPRENORPHINE PRESCRIBERS.

WHEREAS, across America and in Delaware the opioid epidemic is the number one public health crisis; and

WHEREAS, in 2018, 400 Delawareans lost their lives to a fatal overdose, while many more experience a non-fatal overdose; and

WHEREAS, the Food and Drug Administration approved Buprenorphine for clinical use in 2002 to reduce a patient’s urge for opioids; and

WHEREAS, buprenorphine acts as a partial agonist at mu and kappa opioid receptors and as an agonist at delta receptors in the brain which reduces a patient’s urge to consume opioids; and

WHEREAS, the Behavioral Health Consortium, the statewide advisory group, charged with addressing the opioid epidemic, and the Office of the Lt. Governor received technical and research assistance by the Pew Charitable Trust (Pew) in addressing the crisis; and

WHEREAS, Pew, in March 2019, released a report to document its findings and so outlined 8 critical recommendations that intend to increase access to care, reform reimbursement structures, and expand the eligible workforce; and

WHEREAS, the Pew report calls to amend the Medical Practice Act to increase prescribing authority for buprenorphine by physician assistants regardless of the waiver status of their supervising physician; and

WHEREAS, Pew and the Consortium wish to increase access to Medication Assisted Treatment, by allowing additional prescribers to do so, while increasing the brain health workforce as a whole.

NOW, THEREFORE:

BE IT RESOLVED BY the House of Representatives and Senate of the 150th General Assembly of the State of Delaware, with the approval of the Governor, that the Behavioral Health Consortium issue legislative and regulatory recommendations, by January 31, 2020 that can be enacted upon by the 150 th General Assembly or respective agencies.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that recommendations will call for an increase to access to the total number of medication assisted treatment prescribers among all providers permitted to do so under federal law by examining, among any other identified barriers, state law impediments.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that such plans shall examine reimbursement for substance use disorder treatment, state-sponsored training and outreach for providers, and the need to address the Medical Practice Act as it pertains to physician assistant’s ability to prescribe buprenorphine, regardless of the waiver status of their supervising physicians.

SYNOPSIS

This Joint Resolution calls on the Behavioral Health Consortium to issue legislative and regulatory recommendations which would increase access to the total number of Medication Assisted Treatment prescribers among all providers.