TEACH to Combat Addiction Act of 2018

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Pallone for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the TEACH to Combat Addiction Act, which I joined with my friend from Ohio, Representative Bill Johnson, in introducing.

One of the biggest challenges that is facing us in the midst of this opioid epidemic is the lack of high-quality addiction treatment in many parts of our country.

Only one in five individuals with opioid use disorder is able to access any type of treatment. In many instances, individuals struggling with addiction can be placed on waiting lists for months or years before they are able to see an addiction professional. That is simply not right.

When we place barriers and roadblocks between patients and their care, we know that these delays can be deadly. We need to move toward a system of treatment on demand so that, when an individual is crying out for assistance, when that person has that moment of clarity, there is a helping hand ready to meet them.

This legislation helps us in a way that moves us in that direction by investing in our addiction infrastructure. The TEACH to Combat Addiction Act would create centers of excellence in substance use disorder education that would be charged with developing and disseminating model curricula to train our next generation of medical professionals on the practice of addiction.

Empowering our healthcare workforce to better understand and effectively prevent and treat substance use disorder will yield dividends in our fight against the opioid epidemic.

I am proud to work with Representative Johnson on this critical legislation that will strengthen the tools and information we use to educate the next generation of healthcare professionals, and I strongly urge all Members to support this critical legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5261) to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for regional centers of excellence in substance use disorder education, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the Record on the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support for H.R. 5261. This is the Treatment, Education, and Community Help to Combat Addiction Act, or more easily known as the TEACH to Combat Addiction Act. This legislation will designate and support centers of excellence or institutions of learning that have championed substance use disorder treatment.

Improving how professionals are taught to effectively teach substance use disorder will also increase access to evidence-based treatment, in other

words, treatments that will work and that we can prove will work.

I want to thank my colleagues, Representative Bill Johnson and Paul Tonko, for leading this bipartisan and really important initiative.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Johnson), the leader on our committee, to talk more about his legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I don't have any other speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I, too, want to commend our colleagues for bringing this matter to our attention and commend them on the legislation we are moving forward today in a bipartisan way. I encourage our colleagues to vote for it.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5261, the TEACH to Combat Addiction Act, and I want to thank Mr. Tonko, the Democratic sponsor of the bill.

While the evidence is clear that medication-assisted treatment is the gold standard for treatment of opioid use disorder, many healthcare providers know little about this lifesaving treatment. Providers' limited knowledge of and training on substance use disorder treatment and recovery support services, such as MAT, harms efforts to respond to patients who suffer from such conditions.

The TEACH to Combat Addiction Act will help improve providers' knowledge and training on such services by establishing centers of excellence and substance use disorder education. These centers will support the development, evaluation, and distribution of evidence-based curricula for health professional schools on substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery. Such curricula can be used to help ensure that we get the right curriculum and training to all different kinds of healthcare providers.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko), our Democratic sponsor.

Mr. Speaker, I have no additional speakers.

I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, our Nation's healthcare providers are in a unique position to recognize and start to address a patient suffering from addiction. It is vital that their training fully equips them to play that very important role.

Currently, fewer than 10 percent of U.S. medical schools require a dedicated course on addiction, and only a handful have a robust curriculum on the diagnosis and treatment of substance use disorder. The TEACH to Combat Addiction Act seeks to increase the amount of education health professional students receive specific to substance use disorder and addiction by recognizing and supporting institutions that focus on these areas and holding them up as a model for other programs.

I know from talking with schools in Ohio like the University of Cincinnati and The Ohio State University that the medical education community is eager to be a part of the solution to the opioid crisis. This legislation gives them the additional tools with which to pursue innovative strategies and community partnerships that advance their students' knowledge and understanding of substance use disorder and addiction.

Mr. Speaker, the work we are doing in this House to combat the opioid epidemic is important. Too many of our families, friends, and neighbors have been lost for us to delay any longer.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.