II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2254 

To direct the Attorney General to establish uniform standards for the exchange of controlled substance and prescription information for the purpose of preventing diversion, fraud, and abuse of controlled substances 

and other prescription drugs. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 29, 2012 

Mr. PORTMAN (for himself and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To direct the Attorney General to establish uniform standards for the exchange of controlled substance and prescription information for the purpose of preventing diversion, fraud, and abuse of controlled substances and other 

prescription drugs. 

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 ‘‘Interstate Drug Moni5 toring Efficiency and Data Sharing Act of 2012’’ or the 

6 ‘‘ID MEDS Act’’. 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 2254 IS

1 SEC. 2. NATIONAL INTEROPERABILITY STANDARDS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

3 date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall 

4 establish national interoperability standards to facilitate 

5 the exchange of prescription information across State lines 

6 by States receiving grant funds under— 

7 (1) the Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Moni8 toring Program established under the Departments 

9 of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and 

10 Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2002 (Public 

11 Law 107–77; 115 Stat. 748); and 

12 (2) the Controlled Substance Monitoring Pro13 gram established under section 399O of the Public 

14 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 280g–3). 

15 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The Attorney General, in con16 sultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Serv17 ices, shall ensure that the national interoperability stand18 ards established under subsection (a)— 

19 (1) implement open standards that are freely 

20 available, without cost and without restriction, in 

21 order to promote broad implementation; 

22 (2) provide for the use of exchange inter23 mediaries, or hubs, as necessary to facilitate inter24 state interoperability by accommodating State-to25 hub and direct State-to-State communication; 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 2254 IS

1 (3) support transmissions that are fully secured 

2 as required, using industry standard methods of 

3 encryption, to ensure that Protected Health Infor4 mation and Personally Identifiable Information 

5 (PHI and PII) are not compromised at any point 

6 during such transmission; and 

7 (4) employ access control methodologies to 

8 share protected information solely in accordance 

9 with State laws and regulations. 

10 SEC. 3. STATE RECIPIENT REQUIREMENTS. 

11 (a) HAROLD ROGERS PRESCRIPTION DRUG MONI12 TORING PROGRAM.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

14 the date on which the Attorney General establishes 

15 national interoperability standards under section 

16 2(a), a recipient of a grant under the Harold Rogers 

17 Prescription Drug Monitoring Program established 

18 under the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and 

19 State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appro20 priations Act, 2002 (Public Law 107–77; 115 Stat. 

21 748) shall ensure that the databases of the State 

22 comply with such national interoperability standards. 

23 (2) USE OF ENHANCEMENT GRANT FUNDS.—A 

24 recipient of an enhancement grant under the Harold 

25 Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program esVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:28 Mar 30, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2254.IS S2254

srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 2254 IS

1 tablished under the Departments of Commerce, Jus2 tice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies 

3 Appropriations Act, 2002 (Public Law 107–77; 115 

4 Stat. 748) may use enhancement grant funds to 

5 standardize the technology architecture used by the 

6 recipient to comply with the national interoperability 

7 standards established under section (2)(a). 

8 (b) CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE MONITORING PRO9 GRAM.—Section 399O(e) of the Public Health Service Act 

10 (42 U.S.C. 280g–3(e)) is amended by adding at the end 

11 the following: 

12 ‘‘(5) Not later than 1 year after the date on 

13 which the Attorney General establishes national 

14 interoperability standards under section 2(a) of the 

15 ID MEDS Act, the State shall ensure that the data16 base complies with such national interoperability 

17 standards.’’. 

18 SEC. 4. REPORT. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

20 date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General, in 

21 consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human 

22 Services, shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary 

23 of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

24 House of Representatives a report on enhancing the inter25 operability of State prescription monitoring programs with 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 2254 IS

1 other technologies and databases used for detecting and 

2 reducing fraud, diversion, and abuse of prescription drugs. 

3 (b) CONTENTS.—The report required under sub4 section (a) shall include— 

5 (1) a discussion of the feasibility of making 

6 State prescription monitoring programs interoper7 able with other relevant technologies and databases, 

8 including— 

9 (A) electronic prescribing systems; 

10 (B) databases operated by the Drug En11 forcement Agency; 

12 (C) electronic health records; and 

13 (D) pre-payment fraud-detecting analytics 

14 technologies; 

15 (2) an assessment of legal, technical, fiscal, pri16 vacy, or security challenges that have an impact on 

17 interoperability; 

18 (3) a discussion of how State prescription moni19 toring programs could increase the production and 

20 distribution of unsolicited reports to prescribers and 

21 dispensers of prescription drugs, law enforcement of22 ficials, and health professional licensing agencies, in23 cluding the enhancement of such reporting through 

24 interoperability with other States and relevant tech25 nology and databases; and 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 2254 IS

1 (4) any recommendations for addressing chal2 lenges that impact interoperability of State prescrip3 tion monitoring programs in order to reduce fraud, 

4 diversion, and abuse of prescription drugs. 

Æ 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS