Prescription Drug Monitoring Act of 2021

To require the use of prescription drug monitoring programs. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Prescription Drug Monitoring Act of 2021 2. Requiring the use of prescription drug monitoring programs (a) Definitions In this section: (1) Controlled substance The term controlled substance 21 U.S.C. 802 (2) Covered State The term covered State Public Law 107–77 42 U.S.C. 280g–3 (3) Dispenser The term dispenser (A) means a person licensed or otherwise authorized by a State to deliver a prescription drug product to a patient or an agent of the patient; and (B) does not include a person involved in oversight or payment for prescription drugs. (4) PDMP The term PDMP (5) Practitioner The term practitioner 21 U.S.C. 823(f) (6) State The term State (b) Requirements Beginning 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, each covered State shall require— (1) each prescribing practitioner within the covered State or their designee, who shall be licensed or registered healthcare professionals or other employees who report directly to the practitioner, to consult the PDMP of the covered State before initiating treatment with a prescription for a controlled substance listed in schedule II, III, or IV of section 202(c) of the Controlled Substances Act ( 21 U.S.C. 812(c) (2) the PDMP of the covered State to provide proactive notification to a practitioner when patterns indicative of controlled substance misuse, including opioid misuse, are detected; (3) each dispenser within the covered State to report each prescription for a controlled substance dispensed by the dispenser to the PDMP not later than 24 hours after the controlled substance is dispensed to the patient; (4) that the PDMP make available a quarterly de-identified data set and an annual report for public and private use, including use by healthcare providers, health plans and health benefits administrators, State agencies, and researchers, which shall, at a minimum, meet requirements established by the Attorney General, in coordination with the Secretary of Health and Human Services; (5) each State agency that administers the PDMP to— (A) proactively analyze data available through the PDMP; and (B) provide reports to law enforcement agencies and prescriber licensing boards describing any prescribing practitioner that repeatedly fall outside of expected norms or standard practices for the prescribing practitioner’s field; and (6) that the data contained in the PDMP of the covered State be made available to other States. (c) Noncompliance If a covered State fails to comply with subsection (a), the Attorney General or the Secretary of Health and Human Services may withhold grant funds from being awarded to the covered State under the Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program established under the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2002 ( Public Law 107–77 42 U.S.C. 280g–3

Summary: Prescription Drug Monitoring Act of 2021 This bill imposes, as a condition on certain federal funding for the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP), additional notification and reporting requirements concerning prescriptions for potentially addictive drugs. States or territories that receive this funding must require prescribers to consult the PDMP before starting treatment with such drugs, and dispensers to report within 24 hours to the PDMP each time they fill a prescription for such drugs. In addition, the state agency administering a PDMP must analyze reported data for patterns of prescription drug misuse or abuse and provide certain information to prescribers, law enforcement, the public, and other states and territories.