National Alliance for Medication Assisted Recovery
Press Release
Contacts Persons:
Joycelyn Woods, Executive Director, edirector@methadone.org
Carmen Pearman-Arlt, President, carlt@porterstarke.org
Phone/Fax: 1.212.595.NAMA
(1-212-595-62620
For Release
May 14, 2018
The National Alliance for Medication Assisted
Recovery (NAMA Recovery) has been the premier voice for persons receiving
Medication Assisted Treatment since 1988. MAT has been disparaged
as a “substitute drug” by those who ignore the positive benefits that it has
clearly brought to society. These attitudes negatively impact opiate treatment
programs (OTPs) in a variety of ways, but it is the patients themselves who are
particularly stigmatized and harmed. The atmosphere will not change as long as
there is no organization or formal mechanism for patients receiving Medication
Assisted Treatment (MAT i.e. methadone and buprenorphine) to voice their own
needs and to form a strong unified public presence on their own behalf. NAMA
Recovery actively responds to the issues that affect the daily lives of MAT
patients and work towards the day when they can take pride in their
accomplishments.
NAMA Recovery steadfastly oppose the undoing of
42 CFR Part 2 confidentiality protections and oppose the dismantling of the
existing Public Health Law- which authorizes 42 CFR Part 2.
NAMA Recovery is opposed to the Overdose Prevention
and Patient Safety Act (HR 3545) and the exceptions it would make to the
current public health law related to confidentiality of our health information.
MAT patients need to know who and where their medical information goes for
purposes of treatment, payment, health care operations or for any other purpose.
In
our judgement, the majority has been lobbied hard by people in the insurance
industry, hospital associations and vendors of electronic record keeping
systems. They want the core protections to be removed for their own interests
and they have no concern about the lives of patients.
We
are asking everyone that cares about MAT to write a letter. The template is below and it should only take
a few minutes. The email addresses to
send the letter to follow the letter. If you do not want to give your name then
use an alias like Mary Methadone or Tommy Treatment and add:
Example:
Signed
Mary
Methadone
I
cannot sign my real name because I am afraid of the prejudice directed towards
methadone (buprenorphine) patients.
[Date]
[Your Name or
Organization]
[Address]
[Address]
Representative
Greg Walden
Chairman
Energy and
Commerce Committee
2185 Rayburn
House Office Building
Washington,
DC 20515
Representative
Frank Pallone, Jr.
Ranking
Membero sent it to
U.S.
House of Representatives
Energy
and Commerce Committee
237
Cannon House Office Building
Washington,
DC 20515
RE: Opposition to H.R. 3545 - “Overdose Prevention and Patient
Safety Act” and Support for Other Legislative Proposals to Preserve
Confidentiality and Coordinate Care
Dear
Chairman Walden and Ranking Member Pallone:
[I/Organization name] write to
express our opposition to H.R. 3545, the “Overdose Prevention and Patient
Safety Act.” In the midst of the worst
opioid epidemic in our nation’s history, we must do everything possible to
increase the number of people who seek treatment, but H.R. 3545 would do the
opposite. By reducing privacy protections for
individuals receiving substance use disorder (“SUD”) treatment to allow disclosures
and re-disclosures of SUD information without patient consent to a wide range
of health care providers and plans and others with whom they work, H.R. 3545 would
discourage people from entering care out of fear that their treatment records
will be used against them in many harmful ways.
[Describe who you are and the importance of
confidentiality and patient consent to you.
If possible, cite examples of its benefits, particularly as they relate
to accessing and staying in SUD treatment and/or protecting against
discrimination and other negative consequences of unauthorized disclosures of SUD information.
[Here
are some examples of reasons you can give for opposing this bill].
· The heightened protections for
substance use disorder records in the federal confidentiality law, 42 U.S.C. § 290dd-2
and its regulations at 42 CFR Part 2 (collectively known as “Part 2”), are as
critically important today as ever. They
support care coordination while maintaining patient confidentiality to help ensure
that people enter SUD treatment.
·
SAMHSA’s amendments to Part 2 by in
2017 and 2018 have made it much easier to facilitate (with patient consent) the
sharing of health information between SUD and other health care providers in electronic
health information systems and coordinated care settings. Unfortunately, many
in the health care system do not know what these rules allow, and many SUD
treatment programs do not have adequate computer systems to enable them to
maintain electronic health records.
· Patients in substance abuse disorder
treatment should retain the power to decide when and to whom their records are
disclosed, given the continued prevalence of discrimination in our society.
For
these reasons, I/we]
oppose H.R. 3545 and instead support the
following bills that are critical to preserving patient confidentiality and
coordinating care between various health providers:
·
The
Senate’s bipartisan ‘‘Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018:’’
Provides model programs and materials for training health providers and
compliance staff on the permitted uses and disclosures of substance use
disorder information, and training family members and patients on their rights
to protect and obtain substance use disorder information.
·
H.R.
3331 – Introduced by Representative Lynn Jenkins and co-sponsored by Representative
Doris Matsui: Provides needed incentive payments to
substance use disorder and behavioral health providers to obtain certified
electronic health record technology.
Thank
you.
Sincerely,
[NAME]
[TITLE]
[AFFILIATION]
Your
correspondence should be e-mailed to the Minority House Energy and Commerce
Committee staffer, Waverly Gordon, (Waverly.Gordon@mail.house.gov)
and the Majority House Energy and Commerce Committee staffer, Kristen Shatynski (Kristen.Shatynski@mail.house.gov).
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