PHH is going to Washington

That’s right! Project Healing Hive and advocates from all over the country, in partnership with Voices for Non-Opioid Choices, are flying into Washington DC on September 28, 2022, to lobby Congress for the passage of Senate Bill 586, The Non-Opioids Prevent Addiction in the Nation Act (also known as the NO Pain Act). The NO Pain Act was introduced in March 2021 by Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R) from West Virginia. If passed, this bill will temporarily establish a new payment scheme within Medicare for the reimbursement of proven, non-opioid alternative therapies provided within hospital outpatient departments and ambulatory surgical centers. This payment structure will financially incentivize the prescribing of safe and effective opioid alternatives during the most critical time in a patient's treatment…before the addiction starts. The bill also requires the Department of Health and Human Services to submit a report to Congress one year after passage of the bill outlining any “limitations, gaps, barriers to access, or deficits in Medicare coverage or reimbursement for restorative therapies, behavioral approaches, and complementary and integrative health services.” This report is an opportunity for both politicians and the insurance industry alike to learn what Project Healing Hive already knows, that complementary and alternative therapies are effective ways to treat pain and should be covered by health insurance as such.

Although over half of the Senate and more than 160 members of the House of Representatives have signed on to support the legislation, the Bill has remained in the Senate Finance Committee since its introduction in March of this year. While in DC, PHH hopes to garner support from retiring Senator Pat Toomey (R) from Pennsylvania who, as of the writing of this article, has yet to express his support for the passage of this bill.

If you are interested in helping PHH with this cause, please visit our website at projecthealinghive.org/advocacy.