WASHINGTON, DC (May 24, 2018): Health IT Now's Opioid Safety Alliance - a working group of prescribers, dispensers, professional societies, and patients advocating for the use of technology to fight illegitimate opioid use - announced its support today for the Senate introduction of S. 2908, the Electronic Prior Authorization in Medicare Part D Act.
The legislation, sponsored by Senators Pat Roberts (R-KS), Tom Carper (D-DE), and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) would facilitate the use of electronic prior authorizations (ePA) in Medicare Part D, thereby allowing clinical questions to be resolved more expeditiously and preventing delays in access to prescribed therapies that can lead to medication mismanagement.
HITN Opioid Safety Alliance Executive Director Joel White released the following statement:
"The nationwide opioid epidemic is a public health emergency that demands policymakers use every last tool at their disposal to prevent and treat cases of addiction, including technologies such as ePA. Private insurers, doctors, and pharmacies are already using ePA to great success - decreasing provider burden and limiting the potential for medication mismanagement, including in cases of powerful opioids. It is past time we bring that same technology into the Medicare space, said HITN Opioid Safety Alliance Executive Director Joel White. "Health IT Now's Opioid Safety Alliance thanks Senators Roberts, Carper, and Grassley for their leadership on this important measure and urges swift passage for the sake of every Medicare enrollee impacted by the grips of this devastating opioid crisis."
Background:
A leader in the fight for wider adoption of ePA technology, HITN's Opioid Safety Alliance was anearly endorser of complementary House legislation, the Standardizing Electronic Prior Authorization for Safe Prescribing Act. More recently, it led nearly 20 organizations on a letter urging passage of the House bill and praised the House Energy and Commerce Committee's passage of a broader opioid bill (H.R. 5773) containing ePA provisions.