Congresswoman Katie Hill (D-Agua Dulce) followed up on her bipartisan letter to the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education on Wednesday to ensure more doctors receive the necessary training to treat people suffering from opioid use disorder.

The follow-up letter requested an in-person meeting with Dr. Thomas Nasca of ACGME to discuss these critical issues in person and to hear ACGME’s perspective.

“In order to treat the opioid crisis like the absolutely deadly public health crisis that it is, we have to work with our medical partners and shed light on how this issue is affecting our communities,” Hill said.

“I will continue to use my position in Congress to apply pressure on ACGME because they have the power to train our doctors to effectively treat those suffering from opioid use disorder,” Hill said. “That’s why my colleagues and I want to sit down with them and get to the bottom of what’s happening.”

Members of the Freshman Working Group on Addiction, Rep. TJ Cox (D-CA-21), Rep. John Joyce (R-PA-13), Rep. Harley Rouda (D-CA-48), and Rep. David Trone (D-MD-06) co-signed the bipartisan letter, as well as the House Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairman, Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD-07).

“As a physician, I think it’s absolutely necessary for the medical community to do its part if we are going to stem the tide of the drug crisis in this country,” Joyce said. “In order for this to occur, we need to ensure doctors are properly trained and educated when it comes to prescribing drugs to combat addiction. Discussions with my colleagues on what we can do at the federal level to advance these types of training programs for doctors will be a priority of mine moving forward.”

In Hill’s previous exchange with ACGME, the organization declined to respond to what percentage of residents in fields that care for patients with addiction receive the required training to prescribe buprenorphine.

Hill will continue to work with ACGME and other organizations and associations to make sure that physicians in training learn not just how to recognize the signs of addiction, but also how to respond to the signs of addiction by providing treatment that saves lives.