Our legislative/regulatory focus this month:
Request for Information for the Development of a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Action Plan to Prevent Opioid Addiction and Enhance Access to Medication - Assisted Treatment
Dear Colleagues:
The CMS invites us to submit feedback regarding ways that CMS can help address the nation’s opioid crisis through the development of an action plan. For additional information,
click here
.
on
October 11, 2019.
Please provide the name, organization, address, contact number, and email address of the commenter.
CMS is soliciting feedback on the following questions:
Questions on Acute and Chronic Pain:
1. What actions can CMS take to enhance access to appropriate care for acute and/or chronic pain in Medicare and Medicaid, including:
a. For special populations (for example, individuals with sickle cell anemia or
individuals living in health professional shortage areas) and/or
b. Through remote patient monitoring, telehealth, and other telecommunications
technologies?
2. What, if any, payment and coverage policies under Medicare and/or Medicaid for the
treatment of acute and/or chronic pain, do you believe, may have contributed to the use of
opioids? If answering this question, please provide information on how these policies have
contributed.
3. What, if any, payment and coverage policies in Medicare and/or Medicaid have enhanced or impeded access to non-opioid treatment of acute and/or chronic pain?
4. What evidence-based treatments, Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved
evidence-based medical devices, applications, and/or services and items for the following
conditions are not covered, or have limited coverage for Medicare beneficiaries with
a. Acute and/or chronic pain
b. Pain and behavioral health needs requiring integrated care across pain management
and substance use disorder (SUDs), with consideration of high risk patients (i.e.
multiple medications, suicide risk)?
5. What payment and service delivery models, such as those that utilize multimodal and
multi-disciplinary approaches to effectively manage acute and chronic pain and minimize
the risk of opioid misuse and OUD, could be tested by the Center for Medicare and
Medicaid Innovation or through other federal demonstration projects?
a. What existing models, treatments or strategies identify and effectively manage the
population of individuals misusing prescription opioids or using illicit opioids who
then develop new or exacerbating pain?
6. What can CMS do to better ensure appropriate care management for Medicare beneficiaries with pain who transition across settings, and/or between pain therapies?
7. How can Medicare and Medicaid data collection for acute and chronic pain better support coverage, payment, treatment, access policies, and ongoing monitoring?
8. What other issues should CMS consider to improve coverage and payment policies in
Medicare and Medicaid to enhance access to and effective management of beneficiaries
with acute and/or chronic pain?
Questions on Substance Use Disorders, including Opioid Use Disorders:
1. What, if any, payment and coverage policies under Medicare and/or Medicaid for the
treatment of SUDs, including MAT, do you believe, may help address the Nation’s opioid
crisis? If answering this question, please provide information on how these policies may
help.
2. What, if any, payment and coverage policies in Medicare and/or Medicaid have enhanced or impeded the identification of, and access to the treatment by, beneficiaries with SUDs, including OUD?
3. What evidence-based treatments, FDA-approved evidence-based medical devices,
applications, and/or services that treat or monitor SUD, including OUD, monitor substance
use withdrawal and/or prevent opioid misuse and opioid overdose are not covered, or have limited coverage, in Medicare?
4. What payment and service delivery models that identify and treat people with pain who are at risk of, or have a past history of, OUD, could be tested by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, or through other federal demonstration projects?
5. What actions could CMS take to improve access to evidence-based, FDA-approved MAT or other therapies in Medicare and Medicaid, including for special populations (for
example individuals living in health professional shortage areas)?
6. What can CMS do to expand program access to the treatment of SUDs, including OUD, in Medicare and Medicaid through remote patient monitoring, telehealth, telecommunications and other technologies?
7. What recommendations do you have for data collection in Medicare and/or Medicaid
a. On the treatment of SUDs, including OUD, to better support coverage, payment,
treatment, access policies, and ongoing monitoring, and/or
b. To facilitate research, policy development, and inform coverage and payment
policies to prevent OUD?
8. What recommendations do you have to lower prices of drugs used to reverse opioid
overdoses (e.g., naloxone) for consumers?
9. What other issues should CMS consider to improve coverage and payment policies in
Medicare and Medicaid to enhance the identification of, treatment access by, and the
treatment of beneficiaries with SUDs, including OUD?
Public comments will be posted on the CMS website
www.cms.gov
for viewing.
THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for
information and planning purposes; it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), applications, proposal abstracts, or quotations. This RFI does not commit the U.S. Government to contract for any supplies or services or make a grant award.
Sincerely,
The Board of the American Society of Acupuncturists