WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) today introduced bipartisan legislation to establish comprehensive opioid recovery centers that provide coordinated and comprehensive care to Americans struggling with addiction.

The Comprehensive Opioid Recovery Centers Act would create a pilot program allowing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to award grants to eligible entities to create new or expand existing centers to serve as “Comprehensive Opioid Recovery Centers.” These centers would provide a full range of treatment and recovery services—including medication-assisted treatment, recovery housing, job training, and support reintegrating into the workforce, counseling, community-based, and peer recovery support service, among others. States with higher overdose death rates, such as West Virginia and New Hampshire, would be given priority for these grants.

“Much like there is no single solution to combating the opioid epidemic, there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to the recovery process,” Senator Capito said. “This legislation will help establish and expand comprehensive recovery centers that offer a wide range of services to not only treat patients, but also provide them with the resources and support they need to lead a successful drug-free life. Legislative solutions like the CORC Act will play an important role in the spectrum of solutions we need to fight an epidemic that is impacting so many families and communities in West Virginia and across the country.”

“Granite Staters and Americans struggling with addiction all have different needs that must be met in order to help them get back on their feet and on the road to recovery,” Senator Hassan said. “This bipartisan bill would establish Comprehensive Opioid Recovery Centers that provide the kind of coordinated, comprehensive care that those seeking treatment need, including recovery housing and support to reintegrate into the workforce. People are dying every day from this epidemic, and I urge the Senate to move this measure forward as quickly as possible in order to save lives and help ensure that those in treatment have the wraparound support that’s needed to get their lives back on track.”

Similar legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives by U.S. Representatives Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and Gene Green (D-Texas).

Under the Comprehensive Opioid Recovery Centers Act of 2018, Comprehensive Opioid Recovery Centers would serve to help fill the need for coordinated, comprehensive care by providing:

  • Treatment and Recovery Services
    • Patients would be connected—either on-site, through established referral networks or by leveraging existing integrated delivery networks—to a wide range of evidence-based treatment services, as well as recovery support programs including, but not limited to: all FDA-approved medications, detoxification, counseling, residential rehabilitation, recovery housing, community-based and peer recovery support services, and job training and placement assistance.
    • Each center would also have an on-site pharmacy and toxicology services, as well as a secure and confidential electronic health information system.
  • Outreach
    • Centers would serve as links to their communities—providing outreach staff to work with state and local health departments, schools, justice professionals, and other community partners to relay information about services provided.
    • Centers would also make available online evidence-based resources to educate both providers and the public about substance use disorders.
  • Data Reporting and Program Oversight

    • Centers would provide valuable information and data about what treatments work for what patients and could inform more broad treatment practices.

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