National strategy recommendations

Ensure tribal representation on task forces and commissions

Emergency & Crisis Response
Topics
SUD Crisis
social determinants of health
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Population
American Indian/Alaskan Native
Coverage & Standards
No items found.
Federal department
Health and Human Services
house committees
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senate committees
No items found.

Recommendation

Tribal representatives must have the opportunity to serve on federal task forces and commissions seeking to address the opioid epidemic. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force and the National Committee on Heroin, Opioid, and Pain Efforts (HOPE) must include tribal representation.[1]

Background/summary

According to the CDC, American Indians and Alaska Natives have the second-highest rate of opioid overdose in the country compared to other racial and ethnic groups.[2] For these challenges to be considered, representation of tribal leaders is needed. Yet representation is lacking on federal opioid and pain management task forces and commissions.[3]

The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) of 2016[4] led to the creation of the Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force. The Task Force convenes to propose updates to best practices and issue recommendations on managing chronic and acute pain with the goal of addressing the opioid epidemic.[5] The Task Force does not include tribal representation; only public comments from the Indian Health Service (IHS) were included in their latest report.[6]

Similarly, the IHS National Committee on Heroin Opioids and Pain Efforts (HOPE Committee) established five workgroups that aim to foster tribal relationships to address the increasing crisis facing their communities. Although the workgroups include IHS experts, they also fail to mandate tribal leader representation.[3]

citations

1. The Kennedy Forum. Recommendations of Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy to the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis. Last Updated October 2017.

2. “‘To Walk in the Beauty Way’: Treating Opioid Use Disorder in Native Communities.” National Institutes of Health Heal Initiative. Last Updated February 23, 2023.

3. U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Opioids in Indian Country: Beyond the Crisis to Healing the Community (Hearing). Last Updated March 14, 2018.

4. Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016. S. 524 (Whitehouse-Portman), 114th Congress (2015-2016).

5. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force Report. Last Updated May 6, 2019.

6. Ibid.

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