II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 778 

To require the use of prescription drug monitoring programs and to facilitate 

information sharing among States. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 30, 2017 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. MANCHIN, and Mr. KING) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To require the use of prescription drug monitoring programs 

and to facilitate information sharing among States. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prescription Drug 

5 Monitoring Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE.—The term 

9 ‘‘controlled substance’’ has the meaning given the 


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1 term in section 102 of the Controlled Substances 

2 Act (21 U.S.C. 802). 

3 (2) COVERED STATE.—The term ‘‘covered 

4 State’’ means a State that receives funding under 

5 the Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring 

6 Program established under the Departments of 

7 Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and 

8 Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2002 (Public 

9 Law 107–77; 115 Stat. 748) or the controlled sub10 stance monitoring program under section 399O of 

11 the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 280g–3). 

12 (3) DISPENSER.—The term ‘‘dispenser’’— 

13 (A) means a person licensed or otherwise 

14 authorized by a State to deliver a prescription 

15 drug product to a patient or an agent of the pa16 tient; and 

17 (B) does not include a person involved in 

18 oversight or payment for prescription drugs. 

19 (4) PDMP.—The term ‘‘PDMP’’ means a pre20 scription drug monitoring program. 

21 (5) PRACTITIONER.—The term ‘‘practitioner’’ 

22 means a practitioner registered under section 303(f) 

23 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 823(f)) 

24 to prescribe, administer, or dispense controlled sub25 stances. 


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1 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

2 the several States and the District of Columbia. 

3 SEC. 3. PRESCRIPTION DRUG MONITORING PROGRAM RE4 QUIREMENTS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning 2 years after the date 

6 of enactment of this Act, each covered State shall re7 quire— 

8 (1) each prescribing practitioner within the cov9 ered State or their designee, who shall be licensed or 

10 registered healthcare professionals or other employ11 ees who report directly to the practitioner, to consult 

12 the PDMP of the covered State before initiating 

13 treatment with a prescription for a controlled sub14 stance listed in schedule II, III, or IV of section 

15 202(c) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 

16 812(c)), and every 3 months thereafter as long as 

17 the treatment continues; 

18 (2) the PDMP of the covered State to provide 

19 proactive notification to a practitioner when patterns 

20 indicative of controlled substance misuse, including 

21 opioid misuse, are detected; 

22 (3) each dispenser within the covered State to 

23 report each prescription for a controlled substance 

24 dispensed by the dispenser to the PDMP not later 


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1 than 24 hours after the controlled substance is dis2 pensed to the patient; 

3 (4) that the PDMP make available a quarterly 

4 de-identified data set and an annual report for pub5 lic and private use, which shall, at a minimum, meet 

6 requirements established by the Attorney General, in 

7 coordination with the Secretary of Health and 

8 Human Services; and 

9 (5) that the data contained in the PDMP of the 

10 covered State is made available to other States. 

11 (b) NONCOMPLIANCE.—If a covered State fails to 

12 comply with subsection (a), the Attorney General or the 

13 Secretary of Health and Human Services, as appropriate, 

14 may withhold grant funds from being awarded to the cov15 ered State under the Harold Rogers Prescription Drug 

16 Monitoring Program established under the Departments 

17 of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Re18 lated Agencies Appropriations Act, 2002 (Public Law 

19 107–77; 115 Stat. 748) or the controlled substance moni20 toring program under section 399O of the Public Health 

21 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 280g–3). 

22 (c) DATA-SHARING SINGLE TECHNOLOGY SOLU23 TION.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose of assisting 

25 States in complying with subsection (a)(5), the AtVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:11 Apr 05, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S778.IS S778

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1 torney General, in coordination with the Secretary of 

2 Health and Human Services, acting through the 

3 Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Grant Program estab4 lished under section 3021 of title I of the Omnibus 

5 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 

6 U.S.C. 3797ff), shall award, on a competitive basis, 

7 a grant to an eligible entity to establish and main8 tain an inter-State data-sharing single hub to facili9 tate the sharing of PDMP data among States and 

10 the accessing of such data by practitioners. 

11 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The data-sharing single 

12 hub established under paragraph (1)— 

13 (A) shall— 

14 (i) allow States to retain ownership of 

15 the data submitted by the States; 

16 (ii) provide a source of de-identified 

17 data that can be used for statistical, re18 search, or educational purposes; 

19 (iii) allow State authorized users to 

20 access data from a PDMP of a covered 

21 State without requiring a user fee; and 

22 (iv) conform with the standards of the 

23 Prescription Monitoring Information Ex24 change; and 

25 (B) may not— 


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1 (i) distribute, in whole or in part, any 

2 PDMP data without the express written 

3 consent of the PDMP State authority; and 

4 (ii) limit, in whole or in part, distribu5 tion of PDMP data as approved by the 

6 PDMP State authority. 

Æ 


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