[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 97 (Tuesday, June 12, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H5052-H5053]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  TREATMENT, EDUCATION, AND COMMUNITY HELP TO COMBAT ADDICTION ACT OF 
                                  2018

  Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 5261) to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for 
regional centers of excellence in substance use disorder education, and 
for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 5261

       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 ``Treatment, Education, and 
     Community Help to Combat Addiction Act of 2018'' or the 
     ``TEACH to Combat Addiction Act of 2018''.

     SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF REGIONAL CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE IN 
                   SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER EDUCATION.

       Part D of title V of the Public Health Service Act is 
     amended by inserting after section 549 (42 U.S.C. 290ee-4) 
     the following new section:

     ``SEC. 550. REGIONAL CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE IN SUBSTANCE USE 
                   DISORDER EDUCATION.

       ``(a) In General.--The Secretary, in consultation with such 
     other agencies as are appropriate, shall, subject to the 
     availability of appropriations, establish a solicitation 
     process and award cooperative agreements to eligible entities 
     for the designation of such entities as Regional Centers of 
     Excellence in Substance Use Disorder Education and support of 
     such regional centers of excellence to enhance and improve 
     how health professionals are educated in substance use 
     disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery through 
     development, evaluation, and distribution of evidence-based 
     curricula for health profession schools. An eligible entity 
     designated by the Secretary as a Regional Center of 
     Excellence in Substance Use Disorder Education shall carry 
     out the activities described in subsection (b).
       ``(b) Selection of Centers of Excellence.--
       ``(1) Eligible entities.--To be eligible to receive a 
     cooperative agreement under subsection (a), an entity shall--
       ``(A) be an entity specified by the Secretary that offers 
     education to students in various health professions, which 
     may include--
       ``(i) a health system;
       ``(ii) a teaching hospital;
       ``(iii) a medical school;
       ``(iv) a certified behavioral health clinic; or
       ``(v) any other health profession school, school of public 
     health, or Cooperative Extension Program at institutions of 
     higher education engaged in an aspect of the prevention, 
     treatment, or recovery of substance use disorders;
       ``(B) be accredited by the appropriate educational 
     accreditation body;
       ``(C) demonstrate an existing strategy, and have in place a 
     plan for continuing such strategy, or a proposed strategy to 
     implement a curriculum based on best practices for substance 
     use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery;
       ``(D) demonstrate community engagement and participation 
     through community partners, including other health profession 
     schools, mental health counselors, social workers, peer 
     recovery specialists, substance use treatment programs, 
     community health centers, physicians' offices, certified 
     behavioral health clinics, law enforcement, and the business 
     community; and
       ``(E) provide to the Secretary such information, at such 
     time, and in such manner, as the Secretary may require.
       ``(2) Diversity.--In awarding cooperative agreements under 
     subsection (a), the Secretary shall take into account 
     regional differences among eligible entities and shall make 
     an effort to ensure geographic diversity.
       ``(c) Dissemination of Information.--
       ``(1) Public posting.--The Secretary shall make information 
     provided to the Secretary under subsection (b)(1)(E) 
     publically available on the Internet website of the 
     Department of Health and Human Services.
       ``(2) Evaluation.--The Secretary shall evaluate each 
     project carried out by a Regional Center of Excellence in 
     Substance Use Disorder Education under this section and shall 
     disseminate the findings with respect to each such evaluation 
     to appropriate public and private entities.
       ``(d) Funding.--There is authorized to be appropriated to 
     carry out this section, $4,000,000 for each of fiscal years 
     2019 through 2023.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Walden) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Oregon.

                              {time}  1615


                             General Leave

  Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert 
extraneous materials in the Record on the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Oregon?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support for H.R. 5261. 
This is the Treatment, Education, and Community Help to Combat 
Addiction Act, or more easily known as the TEACH to Combat Addiction 
Act. This legislation will designate and support centers of excellence 
or institutions of learning that have championed substance use disorder 
treatment.
  Improving how professionals are taught to effectively teach substance 
use disorder will also increase access to evidence-based treatment, in 
other

[[Page H5053]]

words, treatments that will work and that we can prove will work.
  I want to thank my colleagues, Representative Bill Johnson and Paul 
Tonko, for leading this bipartisan and really important initiative.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
Johnson), the leader on our committee, to talk more about his 
legislation.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, our Nation's healthcare providers 
are in a unique position to recognize and start to address a patient 
suffering from addiction. It is vital that their training fully equips 
them to play that very important role.
  Currently, fewer than 10 percent of U.S. medical schools require a 
dedicated course on addiction, and only a handful have a robust 
curriculum on the diagnosis and treatment of substance use disorder. 
The TEACH to Combat Addiction Act seeks to increase the amount of 
education health professional students receive specific to substance 
use disorder and addiction by recognizing and supporting institutions 
that focus on these areas and holding them up as a model for other 
programs.
  I know from talking with schools in Ohio like the University of 
Cincinnati and The Ohio State University that the medical education 
community is eager to be a part of the solution to the opioid crisis. 
This legislation gives them the additional tools with which to pursue 
innovative strategies and community partnerships that advance their 
students' knowledge and understanding of substance use disorder and 
addiction.
  Mr. Speaker, the work we are doing in this House to combat the opioid 
epidemic is important. Too many of our families, friends, and neighbors 
have been lost for us to delay any longer.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5261, the TEACH to Combat 
Addiction Act, and I want to thank Mr. Tonko, the Democratic sponsor of 
the bill.
  While the evidence is clear that medication-assisted treatment is the 
gold standard for treatment of opioid use disorder, many healthcare 
providers know little about this lifesaving treatment. Providers' 
limited knowledge of and training on substance use disorder treatment 
and recovery support services, such as MAT, harms efforts to respond to 
patients who suffer from such conditions.
  The TEACH to Combat Addiction Act will help improve providers' 
knowledge and training on such services by establishing centers of 
excellence and substance use disorder education. These centers will 
support the development, evaluation, and distribution of evidence-based 
curricula for health professional schools on substance use disorder 
prevention, treatment, and recovery. Such curricula can be used to help 
ensure that we get the right curriculum and training to all different 
kinds of healthcare providers.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I don't have any other speakers, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko), our Democratic sponsor.
  Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Pallone for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the TEACH to Combat Addiction Act, 
which I joined with my friend from Ohio, Representative Bill Johnson, 
in introducing.
  One of the biggest challenges that is facing us in the midst of this 
opioid epidemic is the lack of high-quality addiction treatment in many 
parts of our country.
  Only one in five individuals with opioid use disorder is able to 
access any type of treatment. In many instances, individuals struggling 
with addiction can be placed on waiting lists for months or years 
before they are able to see an addiction professional. That is simply 
not right.
  When we place barriers and roadblocks between patients and their 
care, we know that these delays can be deadly. We need to move toward a 
system of treatment on demand so that, when an individual is crying out 
for assistance, when that person has that moment of clarity, there is a 
helping hand ready to meet them.
  This legislation helps us in a way that moves us in that direction by 
investing in our addiction infrastructure. The TEACH to Combat 
Addiction Act would create centers of excellence in substance use 
disorder education that would be charged with developing and 
disseminating model curricula to train our next generation of medical 
professionals on the practice of addiction.
  Empowering our healthcare workforce to better understand and 
effectively prevent and treat substance use disorder will yield 
dividends in our fight against the opioid epidemic.
  I am proud to work with Representative Johnson on this critical 
legislation that will strengthen the tools and information we use to 
educate the next generation of healthcare professionals, and I strongly 
urge all Members to support this critical legislation.

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I have no additional speakers.
  I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I, too, want to commend our colleagues for 
bringing this matter to our attention and commend them on the 
legislation we are moving forward today in a bipartisan way. I 
encourage our colleagues to vote for it.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the bill, H.R. 5261, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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