U.S. Senate is now debating and is expected to vote as early as this evening on the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018, the culmination of a rare, multi-committee bipartisan effort. Also with bipartisan collaboration, significant provisions taken from or aligned with the goals of the Heitkamp-Durbin Trauma-Informed Care for Children and Families Act (S. 774) were incorporated into the bill, including the creation of an interagency task force to identify trauma-informed best practices and grants for trauma-informed practices in schools.
After Senate approval, a process will be undertaken to reconcile the differences between this legislationand the House-passed opioid legislation (H.R. 6). The new bill number for the Senate version is also H.R. 6. There is widespread interest in getting a bill to President Trump’s desk before the fall election.
As reported earlier in ACEs Connection, the trauma provisions are the result of “extensive engagement” of the offices of Senators Heitkamp (D-ND) and Durbin (D-IL) staff with Shelley Capito (R-WV), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
The specific trauma-related provisions of the Senate bill include:
—Sec. 1502 (Programs for Health Care Workforce): “Trauma” and “trauma-informed care” were added to provisions in the Mental and Behavioral Health Education and Training Program (p. 152)
—Sec. 1506 (CDC Surveillance and Data Collection for Child, Youth, and Adult Trauma): Authorizes CDC to collect data, in cooperation with states, on ACEs every two years and includes rural areas. Authorizes the CDC director to provide technical assistance to tribes to collect and report data. (p. 161-162)
—Section 1513 (Task Force to Develop Best Practices for Trauma-Informed Identification, Referral, and Support): The Interagency Task Force on Trauma-Informed Care “shall identify, evaluate, and make recommendations regarding best practices with respect to children and youth, and their families as appropriate, who have experienced or are at risk of experiencing trauma.” The task force would be chaired by the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use and would seek input from various stakeholders and would make recommendations regarding a set of evidence-based, evidence-informed, and promising practices. (p. 176-186)
—Sec. 1514 (Grants to Improve Trauma Support Services and Mental Health Care for Children and Youth in Educational Settings). Authorizes the HHS Secretary to award grants to state and local educational agencies, Head Start, preschool programs, and others to increase student access to evidence-based trauma support services and mental health care. (p. 187-195)
—Sec. 1515 (National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative). Increased authorized funding to address problems of people who experience violence-related stress. (p. 195-196)
Click here for a section by section of the bill (the attached version highlights the trauma-related provisions).
While there is broad support for many of the policies articulated in the bill, critics point out that bill does not provide mechanisms to fund the programs needed to address crucial prevention and treatment strategies. Preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released recently reveal that more than 72,000 Americans died from overdoses in 2017, the sharpest increase occurred among deaths related to fentanyl and fentanyl analogs (synthetic opioids) with nearly 30,000 overdose deaths. (Click here for the National Institute on Drug Abuse charts on the latest numbers). Some critics, including Leana Wen, MD, Baltimore’s Health Commissioner who was recently named the new president of Planned Parenthood and leader in the trauma movement, say that the legislation addresses the opioid problem only around the edges.
Comments (2)