Pascrell Wins $10 million for Alternatives to Opioids Program

Amendment provides full funding for program conceived at St. Joe’s in Paterson to help curb opioid epidemic

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (NJ-09) hailed House approval of his bipartisan amendment funding the Alternatives to Opioids (ALTO) in the Emergency Department demonstration program. By a vote of 382-32 vote, the House approved $10 million to fully fund this new program created by a Pascrell authored law. Today’s amendment was cosponsored by Reps. David McKinley (R-WV-01), Diana DeGette (D-CO-01), and Scott Tipton (R-CO-03).

Rep. Pascrell speaks on the House floor in support of his amendment to fully fund the ALTO grant program

“As every city and town in America continues to grapple with the opioids epidemic, communities continue to search for solutions to the crisis. The Alternatives to Opioids in the Emergency Department program provides one blueprint,” said Rep. Pascrell. “First piloted by St. Joseph’s Medical Center in my hometown Paterson, New Jersey and at hospitals in Colorado, the program tests alternative pain management protocols to limit the use of opioids in emergency departments. When implemented, these preventative measures have repeatedly shown tremendous success. With this funding, the program can be implemented in pilots elsewhere. I will work with my colleagues to make sure this funding is approved and signed into law so ALTO can beginning saving lives across the nation.”

After years of ravaging communities across America, the opioid epidemic is showing no signs of abating. Of the 47,600 opioid-involved overdose deaths in 2017, 2,685 were New Jerseyans. The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office estimates that drug deaths in the state could eclipse 3,000 in 2018, attributable almost entirely to opioids. Forty percent of all opioid deaths involved a prescription opioid. There are over 200 million opioid prescriptions written in the United States each year.

As a first line of defense for combatting the opioid epidemic, Emergency Departments are well-positioned to be laboratories of new innovations to combat the crisis. Eager to try fresh approaches to address the epidemic, St. Joseph’s team, led by its director of emergency medicine, Dr. Mark Rosenberg, and hospital CEO, Kevin Slavin, created the ALTO program. ALTO utilizes non-opioid protocols instead of painkiller prescriptions to treat acute pain. The St. Joseph’s ALTO program has reduced opioid use by almost 50 percent since 2016. The model has been so successful that St. Joseph’s has expanded the protocol to other departments within the hospital, and Dr. Rosenberg has travelled the country helping other health systems get ALTO programs up and running. With today’s passage of funding for the ALTO program, St. Joseph’s model will be able to expand even further, and save lives by preventing countless unnecessary opioids from being prescribed.

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