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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Monday released guidance aimed at helping states leverage Medicaid to combat the opioid epidemic. Specifically, the guidance focused on information related to covering services for infants born exposed to opioids and how to enhance federal funding for telemedicine and programs that keep tabs on patients’ prescriptions. (Roubein, 6/11)

Without some action, the state’s newly approved Medicaid expansion program could saddle substance abuse and mental health treatment providers with lower payouts that could force cuts to staffing and services when the law takes effect next year, providers say. ...The passage of a five-year extension of the state’s Medicaid expansion program was hailed as a boost to both health care services and drug treatment services across New Hampshire. With it came an expansive change, intended as a cost-effective improvement. (DeWitt, 6/11)

U.S. lawmakers fear the Food and Drug Administration is not doing enough to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the United States as the country works to combat the opioid epidemic. Republican and Democratic members on the House Energy and Commerce Committee questioned whether the FDA's criminal investigators are effective at blocking illegal drugs at U.S. ports of entry, in a letter seen by Reuters. (Lynch, 6/11)