I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1685 

To authorize the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, 

acting through the Director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, to award grants to States to expand access to clinically appropriate 

services for opioid abuse, dependence, or addiction. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 9, 2021 

Mr. FOSTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To authorize the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and 

Substance Use, acting through the Director of the Center 

for Substance Abuse Treatment, to award grants to 

States to expand access to clinically appropriate services 

for opioid abuse, dependence, or addiction. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Expanding Opportuni5 ties for Recovery Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. OPIOID ADDICTION TREATMENT. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary for Men3 tal Health and Substance Use, acting through the Direc4 tor of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (in this 

5 section referred to as the ‘‘Assistant Secretary’’) shall 

6 award grants to States to expand access to clinically ap7 propriate services for opioid abuse, dependence, or addic8 tion. 

9 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—As conditions on the receipt of 

10 a grant under this section, a State shall agree to comply 

11 with the following: 

12 (1) The grant will be administered through the 

13 head of the State’s primary agency responsible for 

14 programs and activities relating to the treatment of 

15 substance abuse. 

16 (2) The services through the grant will be evi17 dence-based such as medication-assisted treatment 

18 for substance use disorder. 

19 (3) The services through the grant will be pro20 vided according to a physician or a clinician’s rec21 ommendation to ensure that individuals receive the 

22 optimal level of substance use disorder treatment for 

23 the amount of time that is deemed medically nec24 essary. 

25 (4) The services through the grant will be pro26 vided exclusively to individuals— 


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1 (A) who lack health insurance; or 

2 (B) whose health insurance— 

3 (i) does not cover such services; or 

4 (ii) places other barriers on the re5 ceipt of such services, such as— 

6 (I) limiting coverage of such serv7 ices to a certain period of time; or 

8 (II) imposing nonquantitative 

9 treatment limitations that are more 

10 stringent than treatment limitations 

11 imposed on other medical conditions 

12 (such as a requirement to use less ex13 pensive services, like outpatient treat14 ment, prior to more expensive, but 

15 physician-recommended services, such 

16 as inpatient or residential treatment). 

17 (5) The grant will not be used to pay or sub18 sidize the cost of more than 60 consecutive days of 

19 opioid abuse, dependence, or addiction treatment in 

20 the case of any individual. 

21 (c) PERMISSIBLE PROVISION OF MEDICATIONS.—In 

22 expanding access to clinically appropriate services for 

23 opioid abuse, dependence, or addiction through a grant 

24 under this section, a State may provide for the use of 


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1 medications, in conjunction with other treatment, so long 

2 as the medications— 

3 (1) are lawfully marketed under the Federal 

4 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et 

5 seq.); 

6 (2) are clinically indicated to address the abuse, 

7 dependence, or addiction; and 

8 (3) are offered consistent with consumer choice. 

9 (d) COORDINATION.—The Assistant Secretary shall 

10 coordinate the program under this section with the pro11 gram for prevention and treatment of substance abuse 

12 under subpart II of part B of title XIX of the Public 

13 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300x–21 et seq.). 

14 (e) EVALUATION; DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION; 

15 TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary 

17 shall— 

18 (A) require States receiving a grant under 

19 this section to report appropriate outcome 

20 measures associated with use of the grant, in21 cluding any— 

22 (i) decreases in substance use; 

23 (ii) changes in retention in care; 

24 (iii) connections to the next appro25 priate level of care; 


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1 (iv) decreases in involvement with 

2 criminal justice activities; and 

3 (v) other outcome data as appropriate; 

4 (B) require States receiving a grant under 

5 this section to report data on individuals’ length 

6 of time under clinically appropriate addiction 

7 treatment, and the use of medication-assisted 

8 treatment; 

9 (C) evaluate the activities supported by 

10 grants under this section; 

11 (D) submit to the Congress and the Sec12 retary, and make publicly available on the inter13 net site of the Substance Abuse and Mental 

14 Health Services Administration, information 

15 about the results of such evaluation; and 

16 (E) offer technical assistance to States re17 ceiving a grant under this section regarding ac18 tivities funded through the grant. 

19 (2) USE OF CERTAIN FUNDS.—Of the funds ap20 propriated to carry out this section for any fiscal 

21 year, 5 percent shall be available to carry out activi22 ties under this subsection. 

Æ 


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