This piece of legislation is part of the ongoing conflict to stop and prevent the opioid epidemic in the United States.
President Donald Trump called it the “single largest bill to combat the drug crisis in the history of our country.”[1] The provision was originally sponsored by senators Marco Rubio and Amy Klobuchar.
[3] It generally prohibits anyone from paying, receiving, or soliciting, any remuneration in return for referrals to recovery homes, clinical treatment facilities, or laboratories.
Notably, EKRA prohibits paying for any referrals to clinical laboratories whether or not they perform substance abuse testing.
[5] The target of the prosecution was an office manager of a substance abuse treatment clinic in Kentucky, who admitted to soliciting kickbacks from the CEO of a urine drug testing lab in exchange for the clinic's business.