ALERT Act of 2018

To provide for the establishment of the Prescription Safety Alert System with respect to covered drug products, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Analyzing and Leveraging Existing Rx Transactions Act of 2018 ALERT Act of 2018 2. Prescription Safety Alert System to help prevent abuse and misuse of prescription drugs The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act is amended by inserting after section 505–1 of such Act ( 21 U.S.C. 355–1 505–2. Prescription Safety Alert System to prevent abuse and misuse (a) In general For the purpose of combating the national prescription drug abuse epidemic, the Secretary shall, with respect to covered drug products, establish and maintain an electronic system, to be known as the Prescription Safety Alert System, that— (1) reviews patient prescription and dispensing history through pharmaceutical claims data transactions described in section 1173(a)(2) of the Social Security Act and developed by a standard setting organization; (2) collects, maintains, and is capable of providing to dispensers, within a dispenser’s ordinary clinical workflow, information about a patient’s prescription and dispensing history; (3) delivers information about a patient’s prescription and dispensing history in summary form, that allows the dispenser to evaluate the risk of misuse, abuse, addiction, overdose, and drug-drug interactions associated with filling the prescription sought by a patient based upon such patient’s prescription and dispensing history for covered drug products; (4) provides to dispensers the information described in paragraphs (2) and (3) in real-time; (5) allows dispensers to obtain access to a patient’s prescription and dispensing history; and (6) requires dispensers as a condition on using such System to have a written use agreement with such System to— (A) allow such System to access required data elements about the dispenser’s patients to ensure that the prescribing and dispensing history of such patients is updated on a real-time basis in such System; and (B) receive information about a patient’s prescription and dispensing history in summary form from such System. (b) Implementation Beginning not later than 12 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall require, pursuant to section 505–1, that covered drug products be dispensed using the Prescription Safety Alert System to help combat the national prescription drug abuse epidemic. (c) Purposes of collecting and making available information The Prescription Safety Alert System shall collect and make available information only for the following purposes: (1) Providing dispensers with information to evaluate the risk of misuse, abuse, addiction, overdose, and drug-drug interactions associated with a covered drug product based upon a patient’s prescription and dispensing history. (2) Providing the Secretary with aggregate information on an annualized basis regarding the number of patients or prescriptions flagged by such System or a dispenser as potentially presenting a risk of misuse, abuse, addiction, overdose, or drug-drug interactions, and other aggregate information, where the Secretary deems the provision of such information to be appropriate. (d) Rule of construction on liability Nothing in this section shall be construed to create or serve as the basis for additional liability for any entity connecting to the System, beyond existing applicable State and Federal laws and regulations. (e) Waivers (1) In general The Secretary may waive the requirements of this section in whole or in part if the Secretary determines that compliance with such requirements is not feasible due to— (A) a public health emergency declared pursuant to a section 319 of the Public Health Service Act; or (B) a natural disaster, a power disruption, or other extenuating circumstances. (2) Guidance Not later than 12 months after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall issue guidance to clarify the circumstances under which waivers will be granted under paragraph (1). (f) Relation to privacy law (1) Appropriate safeguards The Secretary shall take appropriate measures to safeguard the privacy and cybersecurity of the data in the Prescription Safety Alert System. (2) Dispensers The use of protected health information, or the disclosure to the Prescription Safety Alert System of protected health information, by a dispenser pursuant to requirements prescribed under this section is deemed to be a use or disclosure, as applicable, required by law and therefore permitted, without the authorization of the individual, under section 164.512(a) of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulations). (3) Disclosure by Prescription Safety Alert System The use of protected health information, or the disclosure to a dispenser of protected health information, by the Prescription Safety Alert System pursuant to requirements prescribed under this section is deemed to be a use or disclosure, as applicable, required by law and therefore permitted, without authorization of the individual, under section 164.512(a) of title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulations). (4) Definitions In this subsection: (A) The term protected health information (B) The term required by law (g) Definitions In this section: (1) The term covered drug product (A) has been approved for any use under section 505 of this Act or section 351 of the Public Health Service Act; and (B) has been included in a list of drugs published by the Secretary in the Federal Register as presenting a risk of misuse, abuse, addiction, overdose, or drug-drug interactions necessitating inclusion in the Prescription Safety Alert System, so long as the Secretary provided no less than 30 days for public comment before finalizing the inclusion of such drug product in such list. (2) The term dispenser (3) The term closed system pharmacy (4) The term prescription and dispensing history (A) a description of the drug dispensed or attempted to be filled; (B) pharmacy national provider identifier (NPI); (C) prescription (Rx) number; (D) fill number; (E) other applicable coverage code; (F) date or dates of service; (G) prescriber identifiers; (H) patient information; (I) third party identifiers; and (J) such other information the Secretary deems appropriate by guidance. (5) The term standard setting organization .

Summary: Analyzing and Leveraging Existing Rx Transactions Act of 2018 or the ALERT Act of 2018 This bill requires the Food and Drug Administration to establish an electronic system to provide pharmacists with a patient's prescription and dispensing history with respect to covered drugs (i.e., those identified as having a risk of misuse or abuse).