Opioid Use Disorder and the Wolf Administration

The Wolf administration has made the fight against opioid use disorder a top priority. Since Governor Wolf took office, he and his administration have worked with the General Assembly to take aggressive steps to combat opioids, making Pennsylvania a national leader in the fight.

In 2015, Governor Wolf expanded Medicaid, which has allowed more than 125,000 Pennsylvanians with an opioid use disorder to access treatment. Without this expansion, thousands of Pennsylvanians would be suffering without help.

Governor Wolf signed a first-of-its-kind statewide disaster declaration to enhance state response, increase access to treatment, and save lives. This disaster declaration is bolstering the administration’s existing response by speeding up and expanding access to treatment, improving tools for families, first responders, and others, and further enhancing coordination and data collection to improve state and local response.

Governor Wolf also has provided funding to implement 45 Centers of Excellence throughout the commonwealth that have connected tens of thousands of people with substance use disorder to life-saving treatment.

Governor Wolf signed legislation that limits the number of opioids a patient can receive in emergency rooms to a seven-day supply with no refills, and put the same restriction in place for minors, no matter where they get a prescription.

Additional steps the Wolf Administration has taken to combat the crisis include:

The commonwealth is making progress when it comes to battling this public health crisis, but this is not the end of the administration’s efforts.