Final Opioid Bill Partially Repeals IMD Exclusion, Lets More Providers Prescribe Buprenorphine

The final opioid legislation unveiled by House and Senate negotiators late Tuesday (Sept. 25) includes two controversial provisions -- one expanding Medicaid payments for opioid-abuse treatment in large inpatient facilities and another allowing non-physician providers to prescribe a drug used to treat opioid addiction. But a third controversial House-backed measure, which sought to loosen privacy restrictions on medical records containing information about substance abuse, was dropped from the final package. The Medicaid provision would roll back a 1970s-era prohibition on...