On December 3, 2019, nine organizations submitted a joint letter to Congress calling for oversight hearings on the implementation of the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act. The signatories specifically requested a review of the recommendations released in May by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force (Task Force).

The groups pointed out that there is a provision of the SUPPORT Act which “requires the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop an opioid action plan to help mitigate opioid abuse and misuse, improve the management of acute and chronic pain, and consider the recommendations of the Task Force in issuing the final action plan.” As such, the groups claimed that “it is incumbent on the Committee to ensure that CMS includes the recommendations of the Task Force in its action plan and exercises its authority to update its reimbursement and coverage policies to treat acute and chronic pain.”

In the letter, the stakeholders also officially endorsed the Task Force’s recommendations and urged Congress to “now prioritize reviewing and implementing these forward-thinking, proactive recommendations.”

The signatories included: