ADVOCACY SPOTLIGHT


Government and Stakeholders Commit to Opioid Response Efforts ASCA does its part to help BY JEFF EVANS


In 2016, opioids were involved in 42,249 deaths, five times higher than in 1999, according to the Cen- ters for Disease Control and


Prevention (CDC). Today, through legis- lation and administrative policy, the fed- eral government has committed signifi- cant resources into opioid crisis response. It took a few years, but the paradigm has shifted from concern to increased action as human loss continues to grow. Following is a snapshot of ASCA, congressional, administrative and stake- holder endeavors to help remedy the state of crisis.


ASCA Action Early in 2018, ASCA endorsed a posi- tion statement to help build awareness of the issue and non-opioid alternatives: Despite significant the prescription


reductions in of opioid-based


medications, ASCA believes the cur- rent crisis requires the medical com- munity to do more to seek alternative means of reducing their use for pain management. For outpatient surgery, this could include greater use of such innovations as longer lasting analge- sics and pain pumps. As the leading representative and advocate for ambulatory surgery cen- ters, ASCA provides members with educational resources on a wide range of regulatory, compliance and safety protocols and guidelines. While ASCA does not perform a


regulatory or governance role for medical professionals it can—and will—continue to use its


industry


leadership position and educational capabilities to promote and share best practices and medical specialty guidance on the reduction of the use of opioid-based medications.


ASCA’s Opioids Resource Center


Stay in the know. Visit www. ascassociation.org/opioid


ASCA also supports a comprehen- sive and national response to solving the current crisis through a combi- nation of addiction prevention, early intervention and treatment, disease management and recovery support. Stakeholders across the health care


system offer tools and best practices for opioid abuse prevention. ASCA pro- vides a compilation of many of these resources in its Opioids Resource Cen- ter at www.ascassociation.org/opioid.


Congressional Action


Both the US Senate and House of Rep- resentatives have advanced dozens of opioid response bills, many of which impact ASCs. In June alone, the House voted on more than 70 disparate mea- sures, such as the: ■■


Post-Surgical Injections as an Opioid Alternative Act, which freezes sev- eral post-surgical pain codes in the ASC setting at their 2016 reimburse- ment rates. The rate freeze would last for four years, from 2020–2024,


22 ASC FOCUS SEPTEMBER 2018 |www.ascfocus.org ■■


and be exempt from budget neutral- ity requirements;


■■


Postoperative Opioid Prevention Act of 2018, which encourages the use of non-opioid analgesics in post-surgi- cal pain treatment; and


Medicare Opioid Safe Treatment Act, which includes language to direct the secretary of the US Depart- ment of Health and Human Ser- vices (HHS) to examine and adjust Medicare payments to avoid finan- cial incentives from prescribing opi- oids instead of non-opioid alterna- tives. ASC Medicare payment rates for opioids and non-opioid alterna- tives could change, depending on the HHS secretary’s review. Notably, in late May, Congress also


passed the VA Maintaining Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Net- works (MISSION) Act to reform the Vet- erans Health Administration. Following are opioid-related provisions included in that legislation, which President Donald Trump signed in early June: ■■


As part of a training program to administer non-Veterans Administra- tion (VA) health care, VA employees and contractors must study opioid pre- scription management to ensure safe opioid prescribing practices;


■■


VA must implement a process for community providers to have access


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