nj.com: Paterson hospital's opioid program goes national
6/13/2018
Reps. Frank Pallone Jr., left, and Bill Pascrell Jr. at a congressional hearing in 2009. (Aristide Economopoulos | The Star-Ledger)
WASHINGTON -- At St. Joseph's University Medical Center in Paterson, emergency room physicians try to ease patients' pain in ways that don't involve prescribing opioids.
That program will go national under legislation passed by the House on Tuesday.
"Our bill will help implement novel, preventative measures that have proven so effective in my hometown in pulling Americans away from opioid dependence," said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-9th Dist., the measure's chief sponsor.
The bill was one of two dozen bipartisan measures to address the opioid crisis approved by the House Tuesday on an expedited basis that limited debate and required a two-thirds majority. Most passed by voice vote.
Around 42,000 Americans died in 2016 from opioids, including 2,221 New Jerseyans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.