New Act Would Help Doctors Help Addicts

The Recovery Enhancement for Addiction Treatment Act, proposed by Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass), will allow doctors to treat more addicted patients and have more access to medication-assisted therapy (MAT). 

According to The Fix, “Current federal law restricts physicians and other providers from treating more than thirty patients in the first year and one hundred in subsequent years, and requires a waiver to prescribe medication” (Gaita, 2014). However, the new bill would increase the number of addicted patients that doctors can see in a single year, give doctors more access to MAT such as buprenorphine, and also allow nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants to treat addicted patients. 

“Treatment for opioid addiction should not be harder to access than the actual heroin and prescription drugs destroying our communities,” stated Senator Markey (Gaita, 2014). Senators Diane Feinstein (D-Calif), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), John D. Rockefeller (D-W.V.), and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) are cosponsoring the act. 

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