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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3575 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3575

 To amend and reauthorize the controlled substance monitoring program 
 under section 399O of the Public Health Service Act and to authorize 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to share information about the use of 
 controlled substances by veterans with State prescription monitoring 
  programs to prevent misuse and diversion of prescription medicines.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 13, 2010

Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Mr. 
  Vitter, and Mr. Alexander) introduced the following bill; which was 
 read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 
                              and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To amend and reauthorize the controlled substance monitoring program 
 under section 399O of the Public Health Service Act and to authorize 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to share information about the use of 
 controlled substances by veterans with State prescription monitoring 
  programs to prevent misuse and diversion of prescription medicines.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National All Schedules Prescription 
Electronic Reporting Reauthorization Act of 2010''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO PURPOSE.

    Paragraph (1) of section 2 of the National All Schedules 
Prescription Electronic Reporting Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-60) is 
amended to read as follows:
            ``(1) foster the establishment of State-administered 
        controlled substance monitoring systems in order to ensure 
        that--
                    ``(A) health care providers have access to the 
                accurate, timely prescription history information that 
                they may use as a tool for the early identification of 
                patients at risk for addiction in order to initiate 
                appropriate medical interventions and avert the tragic 
                personal, family, and community consequences of 
                untreated addiction; and
                    ``(B) appropriate law enforcement, regulatory, and 
                State professional licensing authorities have access to 
                prescription history information for the purposes of 
                investigating drug diversion and prescribing and 
                dispensing practices of errant prescribers or 
                pharmacists; and''.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE MONITORING PROGRAM.

    Section 399O of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 280g-3) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``or'';
                    (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at 
                the end and inserting ``; or''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) to maintain and operate an existing State 
                controlled substance monitoring program.'';
            (2) by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
    ``(b) Minimum Requirements.--The Secretary shall maintain and, as 
appropriate, supplement or revise (after publishing proposed additions 
and revisions in the Federal Register and receiving public comments 
thereon) minimum requirements for criteria to be used by States for 
purposes of clauses (ii), (v), (vi), and (vii) of subsection 
(c)(1)(A).'';
            (3) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)(B)--
                            (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), by 
                        striking ``(a)(1)(B)'' and inserting 
                        ``(a)(1)(B) or (a)(1)(C)'';
                            (ii) in clause (i), by striking ``program 
                        to be improved'' and inserting ``program to be 
                        improved or maintained''; and
                            (iii) in clause (iv), by striking ``public 
                        health'' and inserting ``public health or 
                        public safety'';
                    (B) in paragraph (3)--
                            (i) by striking ``If a State that submits'' 
                        and inserting the following:
                    ``(A) In general.--If a State that submits'';
                            (ii) by inserting before the period at the 
                        end ``and include timelines for full 
                        implementation of such interoperability''; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) Monitoring of efforts.--The Secretary shall 
                monitor State efforts to achieve interoperability, as 
                described in subparagraph (A).'';
                    (C) in paragraph (5)--
                            (i) by striking ``implement or improve'' 
                        and inserting ``establish, improve, or 
                        maintain''; and
                            (ii) by adding at the end the following: 
                        ``The Secretary shall redistribute any funds 
                        that are so returned among the remaining 
                        grantees under this section in accordance with 
                        the formula described in subsection 
                        (a)(2)(B).'';
            (4) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) in subsection 
        (d), by striking ``In implementing or improving'' all that 
        follows through ``with the following:'' and inserting ``In 
        establishing, improving, or maintaining a controlled substance 
        monitoring program under this section, a State shall comply, or 
        with respect to a State that applies for a grant under 
        subsection (a)(1)(B) or (C) submit to the Secretary for 
        approval a statement of why such compliance is not feasible and 
        a plan for bringing the State into compliance, with the 
        following:'';
            (5) in subsections (e), (f)(1), and (g), by striking 
        ``implementing or improving'' each place it appears and 
        inserting ``establishing, improving, or maintaining'';
            (6) in subsection (f)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)(B) by striking ``misuse of a 
                schedule II, III, or IV substance'' and inserting 
                ``misuse of a controlled substance included in schedule 
                II, III, or IV of section 202(c) of the Controlled 
                Substance Act''; and
                    (B) add at the end the following:
            ``(3) Evaluation and reporting.--Subject to subsection (g), 
        a State receiving a grant under subsection (a) shall provide 
        the Secretary with aggregate data and other information 
        determined by the Secretary to be necessary to enable the 
        Secretary--
                    ``(A) to evaluate the success of the State's 
                program in achieving its purposes; or
                    ``(B) to prepare and submit the report to Congress 
                required by subsection (k)(2).
            ``(4) Research by other entities.--A department, program, 
        or administration receiving nonidentifiable information under 
        paragraph (1)(D) may make such information available to other 
        entities for research purposes.'';
            (7) by redesignating subsections (h) through (n) as 
        subsections (i) through (o), respectively;
            (8) in subsections (c)(1)(A)(iv) and (d)(4), by striking 
        ``subsection (h)'' each place it appears and inserting 
        ``subsection (i)'';
            (9) by inserting after subsection (g) the following:
    ``(h) Education and Access to the Monitoring System.--A State 
receiving a grant under subsection (a) shall take steps to--
            ``(1) facilitate prescriber use of the State's controlled 
        substance monitoring system; and
            ``(2) educate prescribers on the benefits of the system 
        both to them and society.'';
            (10) in subsection (m)(1), as redesignated, by striking 
        ``establishment, implementation, or improvement'' and inserting 
        ``establishment, improvement, or maintenance'';
            (11) in subsection (n)(8), as redesignated, by striking 
        ``and the District of Columbia'' and inserting ``, the District 
        of Columbia, and any commonwealth or territory of the United 
        States''; and
            (12) by amending subsection (o), as redesignated, to read 
        as follows:
    ``(o) Authorization of Appropriation.--To carry out this section, 
there are authorized to be appropriated $15,000,000 for fiscal year 
2011 and $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2012 through 2015.''.

SEC. 4. AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 38.

    (a) Exception With Respect to Confidential Nature of Claims.--
Section 5701 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at 
the end the following new subsection:
    ``(l) Under regulations the Secretary shall prescribe, the 
Secretary may disclose information about a veteran or the dependant of 
a veteran to a State controlled substance monitoring program, including 
a program approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services under 
section 399O of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 280g-3), to 
the extent necessary to prevent misuse and diversion of prescription 
medicines.''.
    (b) Exception With Respect to Confidentiality of Certain Medical 
Records.--Section 7332(b)(2) of such title is amended by adding at the 
end the following new subparagraph:
            ``(G) To a State controlled substance monitoring program, 
        including a program approved by the Secretary of Health and 
        Human Services under section 399O of the Public Health Service 
        Act (42 U.S.C. 280g-3), to the extent necessary to prevent 
        misuse and diversion of prescription medicines.''.
    (c) Report.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
        shall submit to Congress a report on the participation of the 
        Department of Veterans Affairs in State controlled substance 
        monitoring programs, including programs approved by the 
        Secretary of Health and Human Services under section 399O of 
        the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 280g-3).
            (2) Elements.--The report required by paragraph (1) shall 
        include the following:
                    (A) A summary of the activities of the Department 
                of Veterans Affairs relating to programs described in 
                paragraph (1).
                    (B) A list of the programs described in paragraph 
                (1) in which the Department is participating.
                    (C) A description of how the Secretary determines 
                which programs described in paragraph (1) in which to 
                participate.
                    (D) The status of the regulations, if any, 
                prescribed by the Secretary under section 5701(l) of 
                title 38, United States Code, as added by subsection 
                (a) of this section.
                                 <all>
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