[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3680 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3680

To provide for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out 
   a grant program for co-prescribing opioid overdose reversal drugs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 1, 2015

 Mr. Sarbanes introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out 
   a grant program for co-prescribing opioid overdose reversal drugs.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Co-Prescribing to Reduce Overdoses 
Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. CO-PRESCRIBING OPIOID OVERDOSE REVERSAL DRUGS GRANT PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than six months after the date 
        of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human 
        Services shall establish, in accordance with this section, a 
        four-year co-prescribing opioid overdose reversal drugs grant 
        program (in this Act referred to as the ``grant program'') 
        under which the Secretary shall provide not more than a total 
        of 12 grants to eligible entities to carry out the activities 
        described in subsection (c).
            (2) Maximum grant amount.--A grant made under this section 
        may not be for more than $200,000 per grant year.
            (3) Eligible entity.--For purposes of this section, the 
        term ``eligible entity'' means a federally qualified health 
        center (as defined in section 1861(aa) of the Social Security 
        Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(aa)), an opioid treatment program under 
        part 8 of title 42, Code of Federal Regulations, or section 
        303(g) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 823(g)), or 
        any other entity that the Secretary deems appropriate.
            (4) Co-prescribing.--For purposes of this section and 
        section 3, the term ``co-prescribing'' means, with respect to 
        an opioid overdose reversal drug, the practice of prescribing 
        such drug in conjunction with an opioid prescription for 
        patients at an elevated risk of overdose, or in conjunction 
        with an opioid agonist approved under section 505 of the 
        Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 355) for the 
        treatment of opioid abuse disorders, or in other circumstances 
        in which a provider identifies a patient at an elevated risk 
        for an intentional or unintentional drug overdose from heroin 
        or prescription opioid therapies. For purposes of the previous 
        sentence, a patient may be at an elevated risk of overdose if 
        the patient meets the criteria under the existing co-
        prescribing guidelines that the Secretary deems appropriate, 
        such as the criteria provided in the Opioid Overdose Toolkit 
        published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
        Administration.
    (b) Application.--To be eligible to receive a grant under this 
section, an eligible entity shall submit to the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services, in such form and manner as specified by the Secretary, 
an application that describes--
            (1) the extent to which the area to which the entity will 
        furnish services through use of the grant is experiencing 
        significant morbidity and mortality caused by opioid abuse;
            (2) the criteria that will be used to identify eligible 
        patients to participate in such program; and
            (3) how such program will work to try to identify State, 
        local, or private funding to continue the program after 
        expiration of the grant.
    (c) Use of Funds.--An eligible entity receiving a grant under this 
section may use the grant for any of the following activities:
            (1) To establish a program for co-prescribing opioid 
        overdose reversal drugs, such as naloxone.
            (2) To train and provide resources for health care 
        providers and pharmacists on the co-prescribing of opioid 
        overdose reversal drugs.
            (3) To establish mechanisms and processes for tracking 
        patients participating in the program described in paragraph 
        (1) and the health outcomes of such patients.
            (4) To purchase opioid overdose reversal drugs for 
        distribution under the program described in paragraph (1).
            (5) To offset the co-pays and other cost sharing associated 
        with opioid overdose reversal drugs to ensure that cost is not 
        a limiting factor for eligible patients.
            (6) To conduct community outreach, in conjunction with 
        community-based organizations, designed to raise awareness of 
        co-prescribing practices, and the availability of opioid 
        overdose reversal drugs.
            (7) To establish protocols to connect patients who have 
        experienced a drug overdose with appropriate treatment, 
        including medication assisted treatment and appropriate 
        counseling and behavioral therapies.
    (d) Evaluations by Recipients.--As a condition of receipt of a 
grant under this section, an eligible entity shall, for each year for 
which the grant is received, submit to the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services information on appropriate outcome measures specified by 
the Secretary to assess the outcomes of the program funded by the 
grant, including--
            (1) the number of prescribers trained;
            (2) the number of prescribers who have co-prescribed an 
        opioid overdose reversal drugs to at least one patient;
            (3) the total number of prescriptions written for opioid 
        overdose reversal drugs;
            (4) the percentage of patients at elevated risk who 
        received a prescription for an opioid overdose reversal drug;
            (5) the number of patients reporting use of an opioid 
        overdose reversal drug; and
            (6) any other outcome measures that the Secretary deems 
        appropriate.
    (e) Reports by Secretary.--For each year of the grant program under 
this section, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall submit 
to the appropriate Committees of the House of Representatives and of 
the Senate a report aggregating the information received from the grant 
recipients for such year under subsection (d) and evaluating the 
outcomes achieved by the programs funded by grants made under this 
section.

SEC. 3. OPIOID OVERDOSE REVERSAL CO-PRESCRIBING GUIDELINES.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 
establish a grant program under which the Secretary shall award grants 
to eligible State entities to develop opioid overdose reversal co-
prescribing guidelines.
    (b) Eligible State Entities.--For purposes of subsection (a), 
eligible State entities are State departments of health in conjunction 
with State medical boards; city, county, and local health departments; 
and community stakeholder groups involved in reducing opioid overdose 
deaths.
    (c) Administrative Provisions.--
            (1) Grant amounts.--A grant made under this section may not 
        be for more than $200,000 per grant.
            (2) Prioritization.--In awarding grants under this section, 
        the Secretary shall give priority to eligible State entities 
        which propose to base their guidelines on existing guidelines 
        on co-prescribing to speed enactment, including guidelines of--
                    (A) the Department of Veterans Affairs;
                    (B) nationwide medical societies, such as the 
                American Society of Addiction Medicine or American 
                Medical Association; and
                    (C) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 
$4,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2020.
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