The House and Senate agreed to the Substance Use–Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act’’ or the ‘‘SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act’’ or HR 6. The House has passed the bill and left town until November. The Senate is expected to take up the bill this week. In
Last week, HHS released data on the Adoption-Kinship Incentives awards for FY 2018 (based on FY 2017 data) and the total awarded was $64 million. The $64 million is the largest awards ever provided by the fund since it was created as part of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA). The second biggest
A new report by the HHS Inspector General (IG), released last week, Treatment Planning and Medication Monitoring Were Lacking for Children in Foster Care Receiving Psychotropic Medication was critical of health care services and treatment of children in foster care as it relates to the use of psychotropic medication. The report by the in-house investigator
Shaquita Ogletree The NIH hosted a special screening on Tuesday, September 18, in Washington on Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) based on an HBO Documentary, Risky Drinking. The documentary is a product of Oscar and Emmy winner Ellen Goosenberg Kent and journalist/producer Perri Peltz and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) of the
The Senate voted on their opioids legislation on Tuesday, September 18 and passed it by a vote of 99 to 1 (Senator Mike Lee (R-UT)-no). Immediately they began negotiations on the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018, with their House counterparts. The hope is that they can get a quick deal and pass it before
Cutting their week short due to the hurricane, the Senate gave final approval to a Military Construction and Veterans -Energy and Water--Legislative Branch FY 19 spending package sending it back to the House for a final approval. The bill goes to the White House for signature and marks the first FY 2019 bills enacted before
Shaquita Ogletree On Wednesday, September 12, the U.S. Census Bureau released new data on income and poverty in the United States for the year 2017. According to the data released, the U.S. poverty rate declined to 12.3 percent in 2017 for the third consecutive year accounting for 39.7 million people living in poverty. The poverty
The Senate delayed a vote on an opioids package of legislation until this week. The Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018, addresses a range of programs and agencies, sometimes building on 2016 Congressional action though the CARA and CURES acts of that year. Senators had intended to debate the bill on Thursday but put off
Last week the Journal of the American Medical Association -Pediatrics (JAMA-Pediatrics) published research that indicated youth with an opiods-use disorder are less likely to receive medication-assisted treatment despite its positive effect in encouraging on-going substance abuse treatment. The research, Receipt of Timely Addiction Treatment and Association of Early Medication Treatment with Retention in Care among
Shaquita Ogletree On Wednesday, September 12, the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth hosted a congressional briefing on effective interventions that are working to keep children and families intact and preventing entry into foster care. The panel included a discussion by Christen Glickman and Jessica Wooten from Youth Village, Chelsea Geyer and Ms. U from DC127,