[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 147 (Wednesday, October 7, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H6845]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               TREAT ACT

  (Mr. HIGGINS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, every day more than 60 Americans die due to 
an overdose of prescription drugs. The death rate from heroin overdose, 
an epidemic fueled by addiction to opioid painkillers, quadrupled from 
2002 to 2013.
  A person suffering from opioid addiction needs access to medication 
therapy. In many cases, treatment limited to rapid detoxification and 
abstinence can lead to an overdose during the first month of treatment.
  Effective medications to treat opioid addiction exist, but Federal 
regulations restrict the number of patients a physician can treat. This 
is a dangerous limitation, considering that 877,000 physicians can 
prescribe opioids, but only 29,000 can prescribe treatments for opioid 
addiction.
  Tomorrow, the Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on 
the TREAT Act, legislation I introduced to increase the number of 
patients to whom a physician can prescribe treatments for opioid 
addiction. It would also expand the authority to nurse practitioners 
and physician assistants.
  I thank the committee for considering my bill and will work across 
the aisle to bring it to the floor.
  In the meantime, I urge my colleagues to weigh in with the Department 
of Health and Human Services to address this problem as well.

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