I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1725 

To amend and reauthorize the controlled substance monitoring program under 

section 399O of the Public Health Service Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 26, 2015 

Mr. WHITFIELD (for himself, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. BUCSHON, and Mr. PALLONE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend and reauthorize the controlled substance monitoring program under section 399O of the Public Health 

Service Act, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘National All Schedules 

5 Prescription Electronic Reporting Reauthorization Act of 

6 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO PURPOSE. 

2 Paragraph (1) of section 2 of the National All Sched3 ules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act of 2005 (Public 

4 Law 109–60) is amended to read as follows: 

5 ‘‘(1) foster the establishment of State-adminis6 tered controlled substance monitoring systems in 

7 order to ensure that— 

8 ‘‘(A) health care providers have access to 

9 the accurate, timely prescription history infor10 mation that they may use as a tool for the early 

11 identification of patients at risk for addiction in 

12 order to initiate appropriate medical interven13 tions and avert the tragic personal, family, and 

14 community consequences of untreated addiction; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(B) appropriate law enforcement, regu17 latory, and State professional licensing authori18 ties have access to prescription history informa19 tion for the purposes of investigating drug di20 version and prescribing and dispensing prac21 tices of errant prescribers or pharmacists; and’’. 

22 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE MONI23 TORING PROGRAM. 

24 Section 399O of the Public Health Service Act (42 

25 U.S.C. 280g–3) is amended— 

26 (1) in subsection (a)— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

2 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

3 ‘‘or’’; 

4 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

5 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; 

6 and 

7 (iii) by adding at the end the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(C) to maintain and operate an existing 

10 State-controlled substance monitoring pro11 gram.’’; and 

12 (B) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘by the 

13 Secretary’’ after ‘‘Grants awarded’’; 

14 (2) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol15 lows: 

16 ‘‘(b) MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary 

17 shall maintain and, as appropriate, supplement or revise 

18 (after publishing proposed additions and revisions in the 

19 Federal Register and receiving public comments thereon) 

20 minimum requirements for criteria to be used by States 

21 for purposes of clauses (ii), (v), (vi), and (vii) of subsection 

22 (c)(1)(A).’’; 

23 (3) in subsection (c)— 

24 (A) in paragraph (1)(B)— 


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1 (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 

2 by striking ‘‘(a)(1)(B)’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘(a)(1)(B) or (a)(1)(C)’’; 

4 (ii) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘program 

5 to be improved’’ and inserting ‘‘program to 

6 be improved or maintained’’; 

7 (iii) by redesignating clauses (iii) and 

8 (iv) as clauses (iv) and (v), respectively; 

9 (iv) by inserting after clause (ii) the 

10 following: 

11 ‘‘(iii) a plan to apply the latest ad12 vances in health information technology in 

13 order to incorporate prescription drug 

14 monitoring program data directly into the 

15 workflow of prescribers and dispensers to 

16 ensure timely access to patients’ controlled 

17 prescription drug history;’’; 

18 (v) in clause (iv), as redesignated, by 

19 inserting before the semicolon at the end 

20 ‘‘and at least one health information tech21 nology system such as an electronic health 

22 records system, a health information ex23 change, or an e-prescribing system’’; and 


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1 (vi) in clause (v), as redesignated, by 

2 striking ‘‘public health’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘public health or public safety’’; 

4 (B) in paragraph (3)— 

5 (i) by striking ‘‘If a State that sub6 mits’’ and inserting the following: 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If a State that sub8 mits’’; 

9 (ii) by striking the period at the end 

10 and inserting ‘‘and include timelines for 

11 full implementation of such interoper12 ability. The State shall also describe the 

13 manner in which it will achieve interoper14 ability between its monitoring program and 

15 health information technology systems, as 

16 allowable under State law, and include 

17 timelines for implementation of such inter18 operability.’’; and 

19 (iii) by adding at the end the fol20 lowing: 

21 ‘‘(B) MONITORING OF EFFORTS.—The 

22 Secretary shall monitor State efforts to achieve 

23 interoperability, as described in subparagraph 

24 (A).’’; 

25 (C) in paragraph (5)— 


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1 (i) by striking ‘‘implement or im2 prove’’ and inserting ‘‘establish, improve, 

3 or maintain’’; and 

4 (ii) by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: ‘‘The Secretary shall redistribute 

6 any funds that are so returned among the 

7 remaining grantees under this section in 

8 accordance with the formula described in 

9 subsection (a)(2)(B).’’; 

10 (4) in subsection (d)— 

11 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph 

12 (1)— 

13 (i) by striking ‘‘In implementing or 

14 improving’’ and all that follows through 

15 ‘‘(a)(1)(B)’’ and inserting ‘‘In establishing, 

16 improving, or maintaining a controlled sub17 stance monitoring program under this sec18 tion, a State shall comply, or with respect 

19 to a State that applies for a grant under 

20 subparagraph (B) or (C) of subsection 

21 (a)(1)’’; and 

22 (ii) by striking ‘‘public health’’ and in23 serting ‘‘public health or public safety’’; 

24 and 

25 (B) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(5) The State shall report to the Secretary 

2 on— 

3 ‘‘(A) as appropriate, interoperability with 

4 the controlled substance monitoring programs 

5 of Federal departments and agencies; 

6 ‘‘(B) as appropriate, interoperability with 

7 health information technology systems such as 

8 electronic health records systems, health infor9 mation exchanges, and e-prescribing systems; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(C) whether or not the State provides 

12 automatic, real-time or daily information about 

13 a patient when a practitioner (or the designee 

14 of a practitioner, where permitted) requests in15 formation about such patient.’’; 

16 (5) in subsections (e), (f)(1), and (g), by strik17 ing ‘‘implementing or improving’’ each place it ap18 pears and inserting ‘‘establishing, improving, or 

19 maintaining’’; 

20 (6) in subsection (f)— 

21 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

22 (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

23 ‘‘misuse of a schedule II, III, or IV sub24 stance’’ and inserting ‘‘misuse of a con25 trolled substance included in schedule II, 


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1 III, or IV of section 202(c) of the Con2 trolled Substance Act’’; and 

3 (ii) in subparagraph (D), by inserting 

4 ‘‘a State substance abuse agency,’’ after ‘‘a 

5 State health department,’’; and 

6 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(3) EVALUATION AND REPORTING.—Subject 

8 to subsection (g), a State receiving a grant under 

9 subsection (a) shall provide the Secretary with ag10 gregate data and other information determined by 

11 the Secretary to be necessary to enable the Sec12 retary— 

13 ‘‘(A) to evaluate the success of the State’s 

14 program in achieving its purposes; or 

15 ‘‘(B) to prepare and submit the report to 

16 Congress required by subsection (l)(2). 

17 ‘‘(4) RESEARCH BY OTHER ENTITIES.—A de18 partment, program, or administration receiving non19 identifiable information under paragraph (1)(D) 

20 may make such information available to other enti21 ties for research purposes.’’; 

22 (7) by redesignating subsections (h) through 

23 (n) as subsections (j) through (p), respectively; 


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1 (8) in subsections (c)(1)(A)(iv) and (d)(4), by 

2 striking ‘‘subsection (h)’’ each place it appears and 

3 inserting ‘‘subsection (j)’’; 

4 (9) by inserting after subsection (g) the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(h) EDUCATION AND ACCESS TO THE MONITORING

7 SYSTEM.—A State receiving a grant under subsection (a) 

8 shall take steps to— 

9 ‘‘(1) facilitate prescriber and dispenser use of 

10 the State’s controlled substance monitoring system; 

11 ‘‘(2) educate prescribers and dispensers on the 

12 benefits of the system both to them and society; and 

13 ‘‘(3) facilitate linkage to the State substance 

14 abuse agency and substance abuse disorder services. 

15 ‘‘(i) CONSULTATION WITH ATTORNEY GENERAL.— 

16 In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall consult 

17 with the Attorney General of the United States and other 

18 relevant Federal officials to— 

19 ‘‘(1) ensure maximum coordination of controlled 

20 substance monitoring programs and related activi21 ties; and 

22 ‘‘(2) minimize duplicative efforts and funding.’’; 

23 (10) in subsection (l)(2)(A), as redesignated by 

24 paragraph (7)— 


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1 (A) in clause (ii), by inserting ‘‘; estab2 lished or strengthened initiatives to ensure link3 ages to substance use disorder services;’’ before 

4 ‘‘or affected patient access’’; and 

5 (B) in clause (iii), by inserting ‘‘and be6 tween controlled substance monitoring pro7 grams and health information technology sys8 tems,’’ before ‘‘, including an assessment’’; 

9 (11) by striking subsection (m) (relating to 

10 preference), as redesignated by paragraph (7); 

11 (12) by redesignating subsections (m) through 

12 (o), as redesignated by paragraph (7), as subsections 

13 (l) through (o), respectively; 

14 (13) in subsection (m)(1), as redesignated by 

15 paragraph (12), by striking ‘‘establishment, imple16 mentation, or improvement’’ and inserting ‘‘estab17 lishment, improvement, or maintenance’’; 

18 (14) in subsection (n)— 

19 (A) in paragraph (5)— 

20 (i) by striking ‘‘means the ability’’ 

21 and inserting the following: ‘‘means— 

22 ‘‘(A) the ability’’; 

23 (ii) by striking the period at the end 

24 and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 


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1 (iii) by adding at the end the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(B) sharing of State controlled substance 

4 monitoring program information with a health 

5 information technology system such as an elec6 tronic health records system, a health informa7 tion exchange, or an e-prescribing system.’’; 

8 (B) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘phar9 macy’’ and inserting ‘‘pharmacist’’; and 

10 (C) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘and the 

11 District of Columbia’’ and inserting ‘‘, the Dis12 trict of Columbia, and any commonwealth or 

13 territory of the United States’’; and 

14 (15) by amending subsection (o), as redesig15 nated by paragraph (12), to read as follows: 

16 ‘‘(o) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 

17 carry out this section, there is authorized to be appro18 priated $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years from 2016 

19 through 2020.’’. 

Æ 


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