House Approves Masser’s Bill to Require Doctors and Pharmacists Receive Opioid and Addiction-Related Training
HARRISBURG – On Thursday, Rep. Kurt A. Masser (R-Columbia/Montour/Northumberland) stood with House leaders and more than 100 House members, as well as the governor, at a press conference in Harrisburg to announce the completion of the recommendations from the Task Force and Advisory Committee on Opioid Prescription Drug Proliferation. The next step in addressing this crisis will hopefully include a special session in the General Assembly this year, where legislators will solely focus on the opioid crisis.
“It is truly daunting that we are losing more Americans each year to drug overdoses than automobile crashes,” Masser explained. “Further, the opioid abuse issue is affecting all groups of Pennsylvanians – not differentiating by region, religion, income, race or any other factor.”
The House created the task force in 2014, which produced a report with recommendations, and are included in five bipartisan bills that passed the House in the last two weeks. Masser’s
House Bill 1805 is part of that bill package. His legislation would require doctors and pharmacists to attend opioid- and addiction-related training prior to obtaining relevant licenses, and would further require ongoing training in every renewal period.
Masser’s video remarks about his legislation can be found at YouTube.com/RepMasser.
“Currently, doctors and pharmacists are not receiving training on addiction,” Masser said. “As these opioid addiction problems grow, having these providers well trained to diagnose addiction and assist in the treatment of addiction is fundamentally important. I believe that by requiring this training, it will be another step to try and prevent and end the cycle of addiction.”
The four other bills in the package seek to address the following issues:
• Reduce prescription drug abuse and ensure the safety of Pennsylvania’s drinking water by providing for the proper disposal of unused prescription and over-the-counter medications.
• Urge the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs to establish and administer a task force on access to addiction treatment through health plans and other resources.
• Require insurance plans provide access to abuse-deterrent opioid drugs, which are products that contain abuse-deterrent properties and are designed to be harder to crush, cut, dissolve or inject.
• Prohibit emergency providers from prescribing long-acting opioid painkillers in emergency rooms and place a limit on discharge prescriptions.
According to the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), approximately 2,500 Pennsylvanians died from overdose of opioid drugs. The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council says that opioid overuse and abuse cost the Commonwealth more than $12.2 million in hospitalization costs annually, as of 2012.
Opioids are a class of drugs derived from or pharmacologically similar to opiates. While these analgesics are the most effective pharmaceuticals for killing pain, they carry with them a significant risk of addiction. Some data suggest that 60 percent of prescription opioid deaths occur in patients with no history of substance abuse and who are only prescribed an opioid by one health care practitioner.
For information about House Bill 1805, or any other state-related issue, contact Masser’s district office in Elysburg located at 467 Industrial Park Road, by calling 570-648-8017. Information can also be found online at
RepMasser.com or
www.Facebook.com/RepMasser.
Representative Kurt A. Masser
107th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Contact: Krisinda Corbin
kcorbin@pahousegop.com
RepMasser.com /
Facebook.com/RepMasser