Statement of Mary Denigan-Macauley Acting Director, Health Care.
“In March 2015, HHS announced plans to make addressing opioid abuse a high priority through two broad goals: (1) decreasing opioid overdoses and overall overdose deaths, and (2) decreasing the prevalence of opioid use disorder.10 In 2016, CDC issued guidelines with recommendations for prescribing opioids in outpatient settings for chronic pain…”
“In October 2017, GAO found that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provided guidance on the monitoring of Medicare beneficiaries who received opioid prescriptions to plan sponsors—private organizations that implement the Medicare drug benefit, Part D—but it lacked information on most beneficiaries at risk of harm from opioid use. Specifically, GAO found that • CMS provided guidance to plan sponsors on how they should monitor opioid overutilization among Medicare Part D beneficiaries…”
“CMS’s criteria, including recent revisions, did not provide sufficient information about the larger population of potentially at-risk beneficiaries…”
“In the October 2017 report, GAO made three recommendations that CMS (1) gather information on the full number of at-risk beneficiaries receiving high doses of opioids, (2) identify providers who prescribe high amounts of opioids, and (3) require plan sponsors to report to CMS on actions related to providers who inappropriately prescribe opioids. HHS concurred with the first two recommendations, but not with the third. GAO continues to believe the recommendation is valid, as discussed in the report and in this statement…” Read more here.
Source: Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Health Care, Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate; PRESCRIPTION OPIOIDS – Medicare Needs Better Information to Reduce the Risk of Harm to Beneficiaries – May 29, 2018. GAO.gov.
