The American Medical Association issued a report finding a “decrease in opioid prescribing and increases in the use of state
prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs), number of physicians
trained and certified to treat patients with an opioid use disorder, and
in access to naloxone.” The AMA urges that

• All public and private payers should ensure that their formularies
  include all FDA-approved forms of medication assisted treatment (MAT)
  and remove administrative barriers to treatment, including prior
  authorization.
• Policymakers and regulators should increase oversight and
  enforcement of parity laws for mental health and substance use disorders
  to ensure patients receive the care that they need.
• All public and private payers—as well as pharmacy benefit management
  companies—must ensure that patients have access to affordable,
  non-opioid pain care.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, yesterday announced administrative steps that the Food and Drug Administration is taking to accelerate approval of generic prescription drugs.

Similarly, Healthcare Dive discusses measures that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plan to take to remove road blocks to health care data sharing among healthcare providers. Why this interoperability feature was not built into electronic health records before the government threw $32 billion at the industry remains a disturbing mystery to the FEHBlog. In this regard, check CAQH’s Industry Roadmap for Healthcare Provider Data.