Senate Finance Pushes 'Lock In' Legislation To Address Opioid Crisis

Senate Finance Committee Chair Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said Tuesday (Feb. 23) he wants to quickly pass opioid-abuse deterrent legislation, but community pharmacists oppose the bill's central provision, and Democrats, while supporting the legislation, want additional emergency funding to deal with the opioid crisis. The Stopping Medication Abuse and Protecting Seniors Act (S. 1913), by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), would lock Medicare beneficiaries at risk of abusing prescription drugs into a single prescriber and a single pharmacy to reduce doctor and...