Table 3.

Five-point strategy to combat the opioid crisis.

Reproduced from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available from https://www.hhs.gov/opioids/about-the-epidemic/hhs-response/index.html

1. Access: better prevention, treatment, and recovery services

HHS issued over $800 million in grants in 2017 to support treatment, prevention, and recovery, while making it easier for states to receive waivers to cover treatment through their Medicaid programs. (Issued five such SUD waivers since PHE declaration.)

2. Data: better data on the epidemic

HHS is improving our understanding of the crisis by supporting more timely, specific public health data and reporting, including through accelerating CDC’s reporting of drug overdose data

3. Pain: better pain management

HHS wants to ensure everything we do—payments, prescribing guidelines, and more—promotes healthy, evidence-based methods of pain management

4. Overdoses: better targeting of overdose-reversing drugs

HHS works to better target the availability of lifesaving overdose-reversing drugs. The president’s 2019 budget includes $74 million in new investments to support this goal

5. Research: better research on pain and addiction

HHS supports cutting edge research on pain and addiction, including through a new NIH public–private partnership