Jason Simcakoski PROMISE Act
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Promoting Responsible Opioid Management and Incorporating Scientific Expertise Act or the Jason Simcakoski PROMISE Act
(Sec. 2) This bill directs the Department Veterans Affairs (VA) to expand its Opioid Safety Initiative to include all VA medical facilities.
The VA shall establish guidance that each VA health care provider, before initiating opioid therapy, use the VA Opioid Therapy Risk Report tool, which shall include: (1) information from state prescription drug monitoring programs; and (2) a patient's most recent information in order to assess the risk for adverse outcomes of opioid therapy, including the concurrent use of controlled substances such as benzodiazepines.
The VA shall establish enhanced standards for the use of routine and random urine drug tests before and during opioid therapy to help prevent substance abuse, dependence, and diversion, including that: (1) tests occur at least once each year; and (2) health care providers use the test results to tailor pain therapy, safeguards, and risk management strategies for each patient.
The VA shall use the Interdisciplinary Chronic Pain Management Training Team Program to provide education and training on pain management and safe opioid prescribing practices for managing patients with chronic pain.
In carrying out the VA Opioid Safety Initiative, each VA medical facility shall designate a pain management team of health care professionals to coordinate pain management therapy for patients experiencing acute and chronic pain that is non-cancer related.
The VA shall establish standard protocols for the designation of pain management teams at each VA medical facility. Each protocol shall ensure that any health care provider without expertise in prescribing analgesics, or who has not completed the required education and training, does not prescribe opioids unless such health care provider:
consults with a provider who has pain management expertise or who is on the pain management team; and
refers the patient to the pain management team for subsequent prescriptions and therapy.
In carrying out the Opioid Safety Initiative and the Opioid Therapy Risk Report tool, the VA shall:
The summary continues for 30 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on May 10, 2016. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on May 11, 2016: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 114th Congress (2015-16), 329 of the 10,233 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.2 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) introduced it on November 18, 2015, and 35 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 16 Democrats, 19 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on November 18, 2015, 3949 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3774 days ago, on May 11, 2016.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 114th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2017 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers