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House overwhelmingly approves massive opioid package. The House on Friday voted 396 to 14 to pass the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, a legislative package aimed at combating the opioid crisis. The bill is authored by Rep. Greg Walden, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee. It contains several provisions that were passed in committee, as well as dozens of others that were passed by the House during recent weeks. At least 161 patient advocacy groups have said they support the measure. The legislation contains provisions to improve access to addiction treatment, to block illegal drugs such as fentanyl from entering the U.S., to clear the way for more research on non-addictive medications to treat pain, and to reduce prescribing of painkillers. It also places new regulations on the ways Medicare and Medicaid are involved in the treatment of pain and addiction. For instance, federal offices will evaluate the use of telehealth in addiction treatment under Medicare, and would require the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to issue guidance on how to treat infants who were exposed to opioids in the womb. Senate leaders haven’t said whether they would take up the specific House version of the legislation, as the upper chamber has advanced several measures of its own in committees. Senate measures have included compilations of dozens of bills that contain provisions to reduce illegal drug trafficking, limit the number of pain relievers doctors can prescribe, and channel research toward finding non-addictive pain medication.

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Medicaid, Medicare and private insurers fueled the opioid epidemic, study finds. Medicare, Medicaid and private health insurance helped fuel the opioid epidemic because they made it too easy and inexpensive for patients to get opioids, suggests a government-funded study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Authors of the study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, conclude that insurers share responsibility for the massive toll of opioid deaths because they didn’t put in precautions on the drugs to make them harder to access. They covered opioids at a cheap cost, didn’t discourage their prescribing and allowed a large volume to be prescribed at once. The dispute over whether Medicaid, in particular, contributed to the opioid epidemic after millions more people across the U.S. joined the program under Obamacare has been the topic of congressional hearings and partisan attacks on Capitol Hill. Some Republicans have argued that bringing more people into the program fueled the epidemic, though a study published in Health Affairs disputed that conclusion.

Obamacare overhaul leaves out key details for protecting sicker patients, experts say. A proposal to overhaul Obamacare is slim on key details about protecting people with pre-existing conditions, healthcare experts say. A group of more than two dozen policy analysts and think tanks on Wednesday released the proposed replacement to convert Obamacare funding into block grants. Obamacare allies and Democrats say the plan would “gut” protections for people with pre-existing conditions such as cancer or diabetes, but the group says those protections are included. The proposal would keep the law’s requirement that insurers cover pre-existing condition as well as the requirement that insurers cannot charge people with pre-existing conditions higher prices. But policy experts say there is too little information to adequately determine whether people with pre-existing conditions would be protected. For instance, the plan requires states to set aside a portion of the block grant to fund a risk mitigation system such as a high-risk pool, which segregates sick people into a single insurance pool and then covers their costs. But the proposal doesn’t say how much of the block grant must go to that type of program.

House supports tighter food stamp work requirements in second-chance vote. The House voted Thursday to strengthen work requirements for many food stamp recipients, by approving a five-year farm bill that lawmakers rejected last month. In a rare re-vote, lawmakers narrowly approved the 2018 Agriculture and Nutrition Act, an $867 billion bill authorizing farm programs and policy, as well as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as food stamps. The bill passed about a month after it was defeated on the House floor by a group of conservatives who said they first wanted a long-promised vote on an immigration reform bill. Conservatives got their wish and voted Thursday on immigration legislation, but it was rejected by Democrats and moderate Republicans. The vote was enough to let conservatives support the farm bill this time around. But even then, it just barely passed in a 213-211 vote, after 20 Republicans voted against it. The House farm bill may be doomed, however, since it’s not expected to be approved in the Senate. The Senate Agriculture Committee passed its own farm bill, written with Democrats. It does not include the House changes to the food stamp program.

Bill to help grandparents raising kids amid opioid crisis heads to Trump’s desk. The Supporting Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Act cleared the Senate unanimously on Thursday and will next head to President Trump’s desk to be signed into law. It is intended to provide a one-stop-shop of resources for roughly 2.6 million grandparents, many of whom must care for their grandchildren as parents work through their addictions and treatments amid the opioid crisis. “Grandparents are increasingly stepping in to raise their grandchildren due to the opioid crisis,” said Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., who co-authored the bill. “These grandparents are faced with challenges such as delaying retirement, navigating school systems, bridging the generational gap, working through the court system to secure custody and finding mental health resources.” The bipartisan legislation was co-authored by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

White House announces plan to overhaul government agencies. The White House Office of Management and Budget announced a government restructuring plan Thursday, calling for streamlined regulatory processes and a shakeup of agency roles. Included in the plan is a proposal to move food safety regulation under one roof at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and renaming the Department of Health and Human Services to the Department of Health and Public Welfare. OMB Deputy Director Margaret Weichert told reporters that some agency restructuring plans can be implemented this summer, but that others require legislation. Weichert said she didn’t know why the reorganization plan calls for adding the word “welfare” into the name of HHS, but said she was concerned about political posturing rather than sensible consensus.  

Defense Department to let HHS house immigrant children on military bases. The Department of Defense has accepted a request from the Department of Health and Human Services to house 20,000 immigrant children on military bases. According to the Washington Post, HHS formally made the request on Wednesday night, and Army spokesman Lt. Col. Jamie Davis announced on behalf of the Pentagon Thursday it would be housing the unaccompanied minors on three military bases as early as July. The facilities will be staffed and run by HHS employees, as dictated by the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy toward illegal immigration. The plan mirrors action taken by the Obama administration in 2014, when it housed 7,000 child immigrants on three military bases.

Top Democrat slams Azar in letter, calls for more details on immigration actions. HHS Secretary Alex Azar has failed to respond to multiple questions on how children are cared for when they enter the country illegally, wrote Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Murray said she repeatedly has asked for more information about children’s safety, where they are staying and when they’ll be reunited with families, and requested regular updates. She also pointed to a lawsuit charging child abuse by the Office of Refugee Resettlement that occurred in 2015. “Your continued failure to respond, and the horrific reports I have seen regarding the federal government’s treatment of children in its custody, make it frighteningly clear the Department and the Trump administration as a whole have absolutely no concern for the well-being of thousands of children and parents whom they have caused great pain and continued trauma,” she wrote.

RUNDOWN

Modern Healthcare Immigrant detention crisis could yield profit for some providers and payers

STAT Health officials cautiously optimistic dangerous Ebola outbreak is over

The Hill States rethink approach to parental drug addiction

The Associated Press Pain medicine group cancels doctor training about marijuana

NPR Keystone virus makes jump from mosquitoes to human for first time

FierceHealthcare Atul Gawande echoes no ‘instant solutions’ from Amazon-Berkshire-JPMorgan venture

CNBC CVS Health CEO Larry Merlo: Confident Aetna deal will close later this year

Kaiser Health News Doling out pain pills post-surgery: An ingrown toenail not the same as a bypass