Sens. Collins, Bennet introduce opioid, substance abuse training legislation

U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) introduced bipartisan legislation Wednesday to standardize opioid and substance abuse training for prescribers.

The Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act would require controlled substance providers to complete substance abuse training to ensure they have a foundational knowledge of addiction prevention, treatment, and medication management.

“As the nation nears the light at the end of the tunnel with COVID-19, we must not forget another public health emergency our country faces—the opioid epidemic. No community is immune from this crisis, which has been exacerbated by stress and isolation caused by the pandemic,” Collins said. “The opioid epidemic requires an all-of-the-above approach, but increased access to evidence-based addiction prevention and treatment is a critical component of supporting those in need and ultimately tackling this crisis..”

According to the Senators, over 20 million adults in the United States suffer from an opioid use or substance use disorder. In Collin’s home state of Maine, 504 people died from a drug overdose in 2020, a 33 percent increase over drug overdose deaths in 2019 of 380 people. The MATE Act would standardize opioid and substance abuse training and ensure prescribers receive evidence-based addiction prevention training, the Congressmembers said. Nationally, only one in four providers say they have received addiction training during their medical education.

The legislation would create a requirement that all controlled substance prescribers complete a one-time training program on treating and managing patients with opioid or substance abuse disorders; allow accredited medical schools and residency programs, physician assistant schools, and schools of advanced practice nursing to fulfill the training requirement through a curriculum that meets the legislative standards; normalize addiction medicine education across professional schools and authorize federal grants to schools and medical programs to develop training curricula.

“Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the addiction epidemic has continued to rage, devastating families and communities across the country,” Bennet said. “This is a crisis that desperately needs our attention. The MATE Act will better equip our health care system to identify, treat, and prevent addiction, as well as improve pain management by educating providers, addressing racial bias, and standardizing training nationwide.”