This Act may be cited as the “Responsible Education Achieves Care and Healthy Outcomes for Users’ Treatment Act of 2018” or the “REACH OUT Act of 2018”.

(a) Grants authorized.—The Secretary of Health and Human Services (in this section referred to as the “Secretary”) shall, through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, award grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements to eligible entities for the purposes described in subsection (b).

(b) Use of funds.—Grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements awarded under subsection (a) shall be used to support eligible entities through technical assistance—

(1) to educate and provide outreach to outlier prescribers of opioids about best practices for prescribing opioids;

(2) to educate and provide outreach to outlier prescribers of opioids about non-opioid pain management therapies; and

(3) to reduce the amount of opioid prescriptions prescribed by outlier prescribers of opioids.

(c) Application.—Each eligible entity seeking to receive a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement under subsection (a) shall submit to the Secretary an application, at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require.

(d) Geographic distribution.—In awarding grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements under this section, the Secretary shall prioritize establishing technical assistance resources in each State.

(e) Definitions.—In this section:

(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term “eligible entity” means—

(A) an organization—

(i) that has demonstrated experience providing technical assistance to health care professionals on a State or regional basis; and

(ii) that has at least—

(I) one individual who is a representative of consumers on its governing body; and

(II) one individual who is a representative of health care providers on its governing body; or

(B) an entity that is a quality improvement entity with a contract under part B of title XI of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320c et seq.).

(2) OUTLIER PRESCRIBER OF OPIOIDS.—The term “outlier prescriber of opioids” means a prescriber, identified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (through use of prescriber information provided by prescriber National Provider Identifiers included pursuant to section 1860D–4(c)(4)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w–104(c)(4)(A)) on claims for covered part D drugs for part D eligible individuals enrolled in prescription drug plans under part D of title XVIII of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w–101 et seq.) and MA–PD plans under part C of such title (42 U.S.C. 1395w–21 et seq.)) as prescribing, as compared to other prescribers in the specialty of the prescriber and geographic area, amounts of opioids in excess of a threshold (and other criteria) specified by the Secretary, after consultation with stakeholders.

(3) PRESCRIBERS.—The term “prescriber” means any health care professional, including a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, who is licensed to prescribe opioids by the State or territory in which such professional practices.

(f) Funding.—For purposes of implementing this section, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall provide for the transfer from the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund established under section 1841 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395t) to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Program Management Account of $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2019. Amounts transferred under this subparagraph shall remain available until expended.