Advocacy Accomplishments

Addiction is an illness like any other. But too often, patients can’t access effective care because unnecessary barriers stand in the way.

Policy change is a critical tool for removing those barriers. Together with our advocacy partners and our passionate community, Shatterproof is committed to informing and enacting state and federal legislation that makes addiction treatment affordable, high-quality, and easy to access. By focusing on key priorities, we’re taking a strategic approach to making addiction treatment more effective and accessible for all Americans.

Here are some highlights from the last several years of our policy work.

2021

• Shatterproof worked with several states, including New York (S7194/A6395) and Nevada (AB 374 and SB 390), to ensure opioid settlement funds go toward substance use prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery services.
• In collaboration with mental health advocates like the Meadows Institute, Shatterproof worked with Texas lawmakers to pass Medicaid coverage of the collaborative care model through SB 672. This will ensure integration of behavioral health services in the primary care setting and help provide connections to substance use disorder treatment. Read more about our payment reform work.

2020

• Shatterproof helped expand access to evidence-based treatment in Wisconsin by removing prior authorization requirements through the state’s comprehensive HOPE Agenda. We also worked in New York to remove prior authorization requirements for addiction medications.
• Shatterproof launched our state-based payment policy work, focusing on integration of primary care and behavioral health services. We issued our white paper on the Collaborative Care Model for Substance Use Disorder within Medicaid. 
• In California, we worked with the state Medicaid plan to expand access to the Collaborative Care Model. We additionally were part of a coalition effort and rallied advocates in California to pass SB 855, which strengthens insurance protections for substance use disorder and mental health coverage, and creates universally accepted standards for parity enforcement. 
• Shatterproof issued a critical report on the lack of county access to buprenorphine. This evidence supports the need to remove barriers to access, such as the waiver requirement for prescribers through the federal Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act. 

2019

• Shatterproof helped expand access to evidence-based treatment by working with advocates to pass legislation prohibiting prior authorization practices in Missouri (Senate Bill 514), Texas (HB 3285), and Colorado (HB 19-1269). These bills require the state Medicaid plan to include all the FDA-approved medications on the preferred drug list, and it requires that all treatment programs disclose which medications they offer.  
• Shatterproof worked in Connecticut (House Bill 7125) and Colorado (HB 19-1269) to strengthen mental health parity and addiction equity act compliance procedures. 
• Shatterproof worked with elected officials and advocates in California to pass SB 823 which requires all licensed in-patient addiction treatment facilities in the state to adopt and maintain evidence-based treatment criteria in order to receive and maintain their licensing. 

2018

• Shatterproof launched an opioid use disorder payer research pilot to identify areas where insurance policies and payments can and should be modified to improve access and quality of addiction treatment. 
• Shatterproof was a key advocate for passage of HR 6, the Support for Patients and Communities Act. This legislation helped increase the use of medication-assisted treatment, encourages the use of evidence-based best practices among treatment providers, and more. Read more about the final package and Shatterproof’s role in the legislation here. 

2017

• Shatterproof worked with Missouri Governor Eric Greitens to issue an executive order creating a Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP), making it the 50th state to implement the usage of this technology. 
• Worked with elected officials in Texas (HB2561), Georgia (HB 249) and Arkansas (SB339) to pass legislation focused on creating and improving PDMPs, as well as bringing greater access to naloxone. 

2016 

• Shatterproof engaged hundreds of advocates to call, email, and tweet at their legislators to pass the 21st Century Cures Act, which provided $1 billion in funding for opioid addiction prevention and treatment programs. 
• Shatterproof also brought Ambassadors to testify on Capitol Hill and share their stories in support of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA). The bill authorized $181 million in spending for treatment, prevention, and recovery programs, and it allows nurse practitioners and physician assistants to prescribe buprenorphine to help treat opioid addiction.
• Shatterproof advocated for legislation in California (SB482), Wisconsin AB364 and Maryland (HB 437) that requires all prescribers to check the state-run prescription database before prescribing opioid painkillers, sedatives or any other schedule II, III or IV drugs. Legislators approved the bill unanimously, and Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill into law.
• Shatterproof issued a white paper, Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs: Critical Elements of Effective State Legislation, to provide states with comprehensive guidance on PDMPs. 
• Shatterproof advocated for the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain, a set of 12 recommendations ensures patients have access to safer, more effective chronic pain treatment while reducing the number of people who misuse or overdose from these drugs.

2015

• Shatterproof passed Prescription Drug Monitoring Program and prescriber education legislation in Connecticut (HB 6856)
• Shatterproof passed legislation in Florida (HB 751) and West Virginia (SB 335) to expand access to naloxone. 
• Shatterproof led advocacy coalitions to pass Good Samaritan legislation in West Virginia (SB 523) and Kentucky (SB 192). The Kentucky legislation also provides increased access to naloxone and $10 million for treatment. 

2014

• Shatterproof expanded access to naloxone through state legislation and training in Delaware (SB 219), Maine (LD 1686) 
• Shatterproof worked to pass Good Samaritan legislation in Pennsylvania (SB 1164) that protects people from arrest in overdose emergency situations

2013

• Shatterproof garnered 21,000 signatures on a collective letter sent to President Obama, demanding issuance of the final regulations of The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. The regulations were issued on November 8, 2013.