Health IT Now, a coalition of patient groups, provider organizations, health payers and health IT companies, is urging the Trump administration to use "every tool at their disposal" to help fight the opioid crisis, writes Joel White, the group's executive director, in a blog post.
The organization has been vocal about needing to address the nation's opioid epidemic, holding a joint Congressional briefing Oct. 23 with the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness to inform lawmakers of the uses of health IT and emerging technologies for managing and preventing opioid use disorders.
Shortly after President Donald Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency, Mr. White responded on behalf of Health IT Now.
"While provisions in the president's directive expanding access to treatment via telehealth are a welcome and laudable reform, we believe the administration should take additional steps to leverage technology to fight back the tide of this epidemic," he said. "This includes policies to allow for fully interoperable prescription drug monitoring programs with real-time updates that will be queried at both the doctor's office and the pharmacy counter, in order to stop opioid abuse before it occurs. We also believe Congress should reform the overly-broad federal regulation known as 42 CFR Part 2 that has prevented providers from knowing critical, relevant information about a patient's past addiction."
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