AMA Opioid Task Force recommendations offer roadmap to policymakers

CHICAGO — The American Medical Association (AMA) Opioid Task Force released recommendations today calling on policymakers to eliminate barriers to treatment and to take additional steps to end the opioid epidemic.

The task force’s new recommendations focus on barriers to treatment for substance use disorder and pain and other policies that result in so few patients receiving care. These include prior authorization, step therapy and other administrative burdens as well as inadequate enforcement of state and federal laws that require insurance parity for mental health and substance use disorders.