Today, Representatives Annie Kuster (NH-02), the founder and co-chair of the Bipartisan Heroin Task Force, and Carlos Curbelo (FL-26), South Florida’s only Member of the House Ways and Means Committee which has jurisdiction over healthcare policy, introduced H.R. 5699, the “Hospital Opioid Solutions Toolkit (HOST) Act of 2018.” This bipartisan legislation would require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop an evidence-based best practices toolkit for hospitals to reduce opioid misuse.

 “We know that the high rate of opioid prescribing has been a factor in driving the opioid epidemic in New Hampshire and across the country,” said Kuster. “This legislation will give prescribers and hospitals access to more information about best practices and alternative pain management techniques that can help prevent people from suffering from substance misuse in the first place. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to put forward real solutions that will stem the spread of the opioid crisis.”

“Like many communities across the country, South Florida has been directly affected by the opioid epidemic,” Curbelo said. “American families deserve medical providers that have reliable, evidence-based resources to encourage smart, safe use of prescription opioids. This bipartisan legislation will offer an additional tool for American hospital systems to mitigate some of the unnecessary prescribing that has trapped thousands of Americans in the dangerous cycle of addiction.”

The “Hospital Opioid Solutions Toolkit (HOST) Act of 2018” will provide comprehensive and consistent resources for the screening of opioid-use disorder, as well as education for providers and beneficiaries regarding associated risks and evidence-based pain management alternatives.

New Hampshire is number three in the country for drug overdose deaths per capita. Earlier this year, Kuster introduced the Respond NOW Act, which would provide critical resources to those on the frontlines of the opioid epidemic. The Bipartisan Heroin Task Force has been a driver of Congressional action to take on the opioid crisis successfully pushing for the inclusion of $1 billion in funding as part of the 21st Century Cures Act to address the opioid epidemic as well as $6 billion in funding over two years as part of the omnibus government funding bill. The Task Force helped pass 14 bills which were signed into law as part of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA). In January, the Task Force unveiled its legislative agenda for 2018. Two pieces of legislation on the agenda, the VA Prescription Data Accountability Act and the INTERDICT Act, have already been signed into law.

Over 40,000 Americans died from opioid-related drug overdoses in 2016, including nearly 3,000 in the state of Florida, according to the Department of Human and Health Services. Curbelo has been on the forefront of finding ways to mitigate and alleviate the consequences of the opioid epidemic, and has been working directly with the Administration on various initiatives to fight back. In February, Curbelo supported a spending package that provided $6 billion to fight the opioid epidemic and treat mental health.

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