A number of recent Congressional hearings focused on the opioid crisis, including the following:

• A House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee hearing on the current landscape of the crisis and CMS efforts to prevent opioid misuse.
• A Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing examining the ways Medicaid may have unexpectedly contributed to development of the epidemic.
• A Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing examining how the opioid crisis developed and how to tackle the problem.

In addition, the Senate HELP Committee recently held the first of two hearings on public health threats, focusing on the country’s preparedness and response capabilities.  Part two of the hearing is scheduled for January 23, 2018.