[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12667]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         VA ACCOUNTABILITY FIRST AND APPEALS MODERNIZATION ACT

  (Mr. ROTHFUS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROTHFUS. Mr. Speaker, our Nation is being ravaged by skyrocketing 
levels of prescription opioid and heroin abuse, and our veterans have 
been particularly hard hit. Today, 68,000 veterans are struggling with 
opioid abuse disorder.
  Veterans suffer higher rates of opioid abuse than their civilian 
counterparts, and the number of opioid abuse disorders among veterans 
has increased 55 percent over the past 5 years.
  This is why I joined my colleague from across the aisle, Bill 
Keating, in introducing H.R. 5057, the Safe Prescribing for Veterans 
Act. This bill encourages increased safety in opioid prescribing 
practices by ensuring that healthcare professionals within the VA who 
are authorized to prescribe controlled substances complete at least one 
continuing medical education course in pain management every 2 years.
  Last night, Mr. Keating and I offered this proposal as an amendment 
to H.R. 5620, the VA Accountability First and Appeals Modernization 
Act, and it passed with strong bipartisan support. This amendment has 
the potential to save thousands of lives by increasing opioid abuse 
awareness among the nearly 55,000 VA health professionals working 
across the country.
  I commend my colleagues for supporting our efforts.

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