I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3680 
To provide for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out 
a grant program for co-prescribing opioid overdose reversal drugs. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 1, 2015 
Mr. SARBANES introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To provide for the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
to carry out a grant program for co-prescribing opioid 
overdose reversal drugs. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Co-Prescribing to Re-
duce Overdoses Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. CO-PRESCRIBING OPIOID OVERDOSE REVERSAL 
DRUGS GRANT PROGRAM. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than six months 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
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retary of Health and Human Services shall estab-
lish, in accordance with this section, a four-year co- 
prescribing opioid overdose reversal drugs grant pro-
gram (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘grant pro-
gram’’) under which the Secretary shall provide not 
more than a total of 12 grants to eligible entities to 
carry out the activities described in subsection (c). 
(2) MAXIMUM GRANT AMOUNT.—A grant made 
under this section may not be for more than 
$200,000 per grant year. 
(3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—For purposes of this 
section, the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means a federally 
qualified health center (as defined in section 
1861(aa) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1395x(aa)), an opioid treatment program under part 
8 of title 42, Code of Federal Regulations, or section 
303(g) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 
823(g)), or any other entity that the Secretary 
deems appropriate. 
(4) CO-PRESCRIBING.—For purposes of this 
section and section 3, the term ‘‘co-prescribing’’ 
means, with respect to an opioid overdose reversal 
drug, the practice of prescribing such drug in con-
junction with an opioid prescription for patients at 
an elevated risk of overdose, or in conjunction with 
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an opioid agonist approved under section 505 of the 
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 
355) for the treatment of opioid abuse disorders, or 
in other circumstances in which a provider identifies 
a patient at an elevated risk for an intentional or 
unintentional drug overdose from heroin or prescrip-
tion opioid therapies. For purposes of the previous 
sentence, a patient may be at an elevated risk of 
overdose if the patient meets the criteria under the 
existing co-prescribing guidelines that the Secretary 
deems appropriate, such as the criteria provided in 
the Opioid Overdose Toolkit published by the Sub-
stance Abuse and Mental Health Services Adminis-
tration. 
(b) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 
under this section, an eligible entity shall submit to the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services, in such form 
and manner as specified by the Secretary, an application 
that describes— 
(1) the extent to which the area to which the 
entity will furnish services through use of the grant 
is experiencing significant morbidity and mortality 
caused by opioid abuse; 
(2) the criteria that will be used to identify eli-
gible patients to participate in such program; and 
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(3) how such program will work to try to iden-
tify State, local, or private funding to continue the 
program after expiration of the grant. 
(c) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity receiving a 
grant under this section may use the grant for any of the 
following activities: 
(1) To establish a program for co-prescribing 
opioid overdose reversal drugs, such as naloxone. 
(2) To train and provide resources for health 
care providers and pharmacists on the co-prescribing 
of opioid overdose reversal drugs. 
(3) To establish mechanisms and processes for 
tracking patients participating in the program de-
scribed in paragraph (1) and the health outcomes of 
such patients. 
(4) To purchase opioid overdose reversal drugs 
for distribution under the program described in 
paragraph (1). 
(5) To offset the co-pays and other cost sharing 
associated with opioid overdose reversal drugs to en-
sure that cost is not a limiting factor for eligible pa-
tients. 
(6) To conduct community outreach, in con-
junction with community-based organizations, de-
signed to raise awareness of co-prescribing practices, 
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and the availability of opioid overdose reversal 
drugs. 
(7) To establish protocols to connect patients 
who have experienced a drug overdose with appro-
priate treatment, including medication assisted 
treatment and appropriate counseling and behavioral 
therapies. 
(d) EVALUATIONS BY RECIPIENTS.—As a condition 
of receipt of a grant under this section, an eligible entity 
shall, for each year for which the grant is received, submit 
to the Secretary of Health and Human Services informa-
tion on appropriate outcome measures specified by the 
Secretary to assess the outcomes of the program funded 
by the grant, including— 
(1) the number of prescribers trained; 
(2) the number of prescribers who have co-pre-
scribed an opioid overdose reversal drugs to at least 
one patient; 
(3) the total number of prescriptions written for 
opioid overdose reversal drugs; 
(4) the percentage of patients at elevated risk 
who received a prescription for an opioid overdose 
reversal drug; 
(5) the number of patients reporting use of an 
opioid overdose reversal drug; and 
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(6) any other outcome measures that the Sec-
retary deems appropriate. 
(e) REPORTS BY SECRETARY.—For each year of the 
grant program under this section, the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services shall submit to the appropriate Com-
mittees of the House of Representatives and of the Senate 
a report aggregating the information received from the 
grant recipients for such year under subsection (d) and 
evaluating the outcomes achieved by the programs funded 
by grants made under this section. 
SEC. 3. OPIOID OVERDOSE REVERSAL CO-PRESCRIBING 
GUIDELINES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services shall establish a grant program under 
which the Secretary shall award grants to eligible State 
entities to develop opioid overdose reversal co-prescribing 
guidelines. 
(b) ELIGIBLE STATE ENTITIES.—For purposes of 
subsection (a), eligible State entities are State depart-
ments of health in conjunction with State medical boards; 
city, county, and local health departments; and community 
stakeholder groups involved in reducing opioid overdose 
deaths. 
(c) ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.— 
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(1) GRANT
AMOUNTS.—A grant made under 
this section may not be for more than $200,000 per 
grant. 
(2) 
PRIORITIZATION.—In 
awarding 
grants 
under this section, the Secretary shall give priority 
to eligible State entities which propose to base their 
guidelines on existing guidelines on co-prescribing to 
speed enactment, including guidelines of— 
(A) the Department of Veterans Affairs; 
(B) nationwide medical societies, such as 
the American Society of Addiction Medicine or 
American Medical Association; and 
(C) the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention. 
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this Act $4,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2016 through 
2020. 
Æ 
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