Health Industry Leaders Pledge to Work with Congress to Address Nation’s Opioid Crisis
Healthcare Leadership Council Applauds Senate, House Hearings This Week On Steps to Curb Drug Addiction, Misuse
WASHINGTON – Noting that the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee as well as a number of House and Senate subcommittees are conducting hearings this week on various aspects of America’s opioid crisis, the president of the Healthcare Leadership Council (HLC) said today that the nation’s private sector healthcare leaders plan to work closely with lawmakers in developing and implementing innovative approaches to address the drug addiction challenge.
The Senate HELP Committee is conducting a hearing Wednesday on The Opioid Crisis Response Act legislation while other subcommittees are hosting hearings on a range of issues from Medicare and Medicaid’s role in combating the opioid crisis to the lethal nature of fentanyl-laced drugs.
“We applaud Congress’s bipartisan attention to an issue that is taking lives, devastating communities, and depleting the resources of our social services, healthcare and law enforcement infrastructures,” said HLC president Mary R. Grealy. The Healthcare Leadership Council is comprised of chief executives from the nation’s leading hospitals, health insurers, pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies, health information technology firms and other health sectors.
HLC is in the midst of an initiative bringing together these diverse health industry sectors, plus other organizations focused on the opioid crisis, to develop a comprehensive set of consensus solutions. Participants are looking at legislative and regulatory remedies, plus industry actions, to improve care management, optimize technology and data analytics, and accelerate therapeutic innovation. An announcement on these expected recommendations is expected early this summer.
“The opioid crisis is a complex problem requiring multi-faceted solutions and a determined public-private partnership, Ms. Grealy said. “We look forward to working with Congress and the administration in bringing down addiction rates and stopping opioid misuse, while protecting access to treatment for patients suffering from chronic and severe pain.”
