A federal watchdog found the Trump administration needed to do more to ensure it is effectively expanding access to addiction treatments to help curb the opioid epidemic.
The Government Accountability Office found in a report released on Tuesday that Health and Human Services hasn’t outlined key goals and targets for expanding access of addiction treatment.
HHS established a goal to expand access to addiction treatments like buprenorphine and methadone since late 2015. It sought to give out up to $66 million in grants from Aug. 2015 to Aug. 2019.
But HHS hasn’t put together specific goals for how to expand access to addiction treatments, GAO said. Without them, HHS’ effort to expand treatments will be lacking.
“For example, HHS has not established a long-term target specifying the percentage increase in the number of prescriptions for buprenorphine HHS would like to achieve, which would help to show whether efforts by HHS and others are resulting in a sufficient number of prescriptions for [medication assisted treatment] medications,” GAO added.
GAO called on HHS to establish performance goals for expanding access and create timeframes for evaluating those efforts. HHS agreed with the recommendations.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the report comes at a critical time in the federal government’s response to an epidemic that federal data shows kills 91 Americans a day.
“This GAO study will help to ensure that dollars are spent wisely to fight the crisis of opioid abuse taking lives in communities across the country,” said McConnell, who requested the report, on the Senate floor Tuesday. “The announcement of GAO’s conclusions will help us as we continue to build a comprehensive approach to combating heroin and prescription drug abuse.”
