Committee opens public hearing on utilization-review parity for non-opioid pain treatments

The Senate Committee on Health Care opened a public hearing on Senate Bill 598, a measure that would require certain health insurers and the Oregon Health Plan to apply the same utilization review and, where relevant, cost-sharing rules to non-opioid pain treatments as they apply to opioid pain medications when used for the same treatment.

A staff summary said the bill "requires health insurers and the Oregon Health Plan to apply the same approval processes such as utilization management or steps and when relevant cost sharing rules to non opioid pain treatments as they do to opioid pain medications," with the intention that access to non-opioid options be no more restrictive than access to opioid medications.

Senator Campos, the bill sponsor, framed the bill as part of long-running efforts to address the opioid epidemic. He cited data during his remarks: "6 out of a hundred patients prescribed opioids for the first time will develop new persistent opioid use" and stated that "40 percent of Oregonians are dispensed an opioid every year." The sponsor said the measure would help make non-opioid alternatives more accessible and would reduce the risk that patients develop opioid use disorder after an initial prescription.

The hearing opened and the sponsor provided testimony; the transcript ends before committee questions or a committee decision on the measure was recorded. No fiscal impact, amendment adoption or committee vote on this item was reported in the available transcript.