policy

April 24, 2018

The Honorable Michael Burgess, MD, Chairman
Health Subcommittee
House Energy and Commerce Committee
Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Gene Green, Ranking Member
Health Subcommittee
House Energy and Commerce Committee
Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Chairman Burgess and Ranking Member Green:

On behalf of the Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP), I am writing to express our gratitude and support for the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee’s commitment to move a comprehensive slate of bills to address America’s devastating opioid crisis. ACAP particularly applauds the Committee’s bipartisan recognition of the important role that the Medicaid program has in addressing the opioid epidemic and we look forward to working with members of the Committee and
the Administration, as well as the states, to maximize Medicaid’s potential to address the opioid crisis.

ACAP represents 61 member plans in 29 states serving more than 20 million Americans receiving coverage through Medicaid, CHIP, Medicare Advantage D-SNPs, and the Health Insurance Marketplaces. While ACAP supports a comprehensive approach to addressing the opioid issue in America, we want to specifically voice our support for several pieces of common-sense legislation that represent policy priorities for America’s safety net health plans. We urge the Committee to ensure these bills are part of
any legislative effort that moves through the legislative process. ACAP particularly urges the members of the Subcommittee to support the following:

• H.R.____, Require Medicaid Programs to Report on All Core Behavioral Health Measures, to require state Medicaid programs to report on the 11 behavioral health measures that are included in CMS’s 2018 Core Set of Adult Health Care Quality Measures for Medicaid. This legislation is vital to help federal and state policymakers better understand how state Medicaid programs are addressing the opioid crisis and to provide opportunities to share best practices in this area. ACAP has long advocated for state reporting of the Medicaid core quality measures, we applaud the Subcommittee for this legislation and urge its passage; and
• H.R. 3545, the Overdose Prevention and Patient Safety Act, to align the use of substance use disorder (SUD) treatment records with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for the purposes of treatment, payment, and healthcare operations. Safety Net Health Plans strongly support the protection of patient privacy and confidentiality. However current federal law and regulation (42 CFR Part 2) creates bureaucratic hurdles to the treatment of and care coordination for health plan members suffering from SUD, including those receiving coverage in Medicare, Medicaid, and through the health insurance exchanges. This legislation
  will protect patient confidentiality while improving the ability of health plan providers to provide vital health care services to plan members and we urge its support by the Subcommittee.

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