I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6608 
To provide for the development and dissemination of best practice guidelines 
for using data collected by prescription drug monitoring programs to 
identify drug diversion and abuse, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 26, 2018 
Ms. MCSALLY (for herself and Mr. CRAMER) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To provide for the development and dissemination of best 
practice guidelines for using data collected by prescrip-
tion drug monitoring programs to identify drug diversion 
and abuse, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prescription Drug 
Monitoring Program Best Practices Act of 2018’’. 
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SEC. 2. BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINES FOR USING DATA COL-
LECTED 
BY 
PRESCRIPTION 
DRUG 
MONI-
TORING PROGRAMS. 
(a) BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINES.—The Director of 
the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Director of the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, acting jointly, 
shall— 
(1) develop best practice guidelines and poten-
tial enhancements to facilitate use of and strengthen 
prescription drug monitoring programs to identify— 
(A) unlawful diversion or misuse of con-
trolled substances; and 
(B) the potential for harmful drug inter-
actions; 
(2) include in such guidelines— 
(A) data elements that should be included 
in proactive, unsolicited reports that are gen-
erated and disseminated to authorized users to 
identify patients at the highest risk for misuse 
of controlled substances and identify potential 
inappropriate prescribing trends; and 
(B) best practices on treatment options for 
consideration by prescribers (or other health 
care providers) for prescription drug monitoring 
programs that include data on prescriptions for 
medication assisted treatments for substance 
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use disorders and opioid overdose reversal 
agents; 
(3) identify potential barriers to implementation 
of such guidelines and develop recommendations for 
addressing such barriers (such as development of 
standard data elements to be included in proactive 
or unsolicited reports or whether data on prescrip-
tions for medication assisted treatments for sub-
stance use disorders and opioid overdose reversal 
agents should be included in prescription drug moni-
toring programs); and 
(4) not later than 12 months after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, submit to Congress a re-
port that includes best practices identified and a 
proposed plan for disseminating and supporting 
adoption of such best practices by state prescription 
drug monitoring programs. 
(b) INPUT FROM RELEVANT STAKEHOLDERS.—In 
developing best practice guidelines under subsection (a), 
the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the 
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-
tion, acting jointly, shall conduct a public workshop and 
otherwise engage with relevant stakeholders to help inform 
the development of best practices to— 
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(1) identify patients at the highest risk for mis-
use of controlled substances and identify potential 
inappropriate prescribing trends; 
(2) identify potential data elements to include 
in proactive, unsolicited reports that are generated 
and disseminated to authorized users to identify 
such patients at the highest risk and identify poten-
tial inappropriate prescribing trends, and assess 
whether data on prescriptions for medication as-
sisted treatments for substance use disorder and 
opioid overdose reversal agents should be incor-
porated and specific considerations for prescribers 
based on such information; and 
(3) identify additional enhancements to pre-
scription drug monitoring programs and potential 
barriers to adoption and recommendations for ad-
dressing such barriers. 
(c) GRANTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Bureau 
of Justice Assistance and the Director of the Cen-
ters for Disease Control and Prevention, acting 
jointly, shall award grants to States to support 
adoption of best practices identified under subsection 
(b). 
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(2) AMOUNT OF AWARDS.—The total amount 
awarded to any State under this subsection shall 
be— 
(A) not less than $25,000; and 
(B) not more than $50,000. 
(3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 
carry out this subsection, there is authorized to be 
appropriated $500,000. 
SEC. 3. TRANSFER OF PRESCRIPTION DRUG MONITORING 
PROGRAM DATA ACROSS STATE LINES. 
(a) FACILITATING
ADOPTION
OF
SYSTEMS
BY 
STATES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Bureau 
of Justice Assistance shall facilitate the adoption of 
the PMP InterConnect System of the National 
Boards of Pharmacy (or another appropriate system 
for the transfer of prescription drug monitoring pro-
gram data across State lines) by all States. 
(2) GRANTS.— 
(A) AWARD.—The Secretary may award 
grants to eligible States for technical assistance 
in addressing barriers to the adoption of a sys-
tem described in paragraph (1). 
(B) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive 
a grant under this paragraph, a State must not 
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have adopted a system described in paragraph 
(1) as of the date of the grant award. 
(C) PERIOD.—The period of a grant under 
this paragraph shall not exceed 5 years. 
(D) AMOUNT
OF
AWARDS.—The total 
amount awarded to any State under this para-
graph shall be— 
(i) not less than $50,000; and 
(ii) not more than $100,000. 
(E) 
AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIA-
TIONS.—To carry out this paragraph, there is 
authorized to be appropriated $500,000. 
(b) GAO STUDY.— 
(1) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the 
United States shall— 
(A) conduct a study to determine how effi-
ciently and effectively State prescription drug 
monitoring programs are sharing data pursuant 
to the PMP InterConnect System of the Na-
tional Boards of Pharmacy (or other systems); 
and 
(B) submit a report to the Congress on the 
results of such study, including recommenda-
tions for the improvement of such sharing. 
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(2) RESPONSE BY BJA.—Not later than 180 
days after the date on which the report under para-
graph (1) is submitted to the Congress, the Director 
of the Bureau of Justice Assistance shall submit a 
plan to the Congress for addressing the rec-
ommendations in such report. 
(c) PILOT PROGRAM FOR REGIONAL SHARING OF 
PDMP DATA.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary for 
Mental Health and Substance Use, in consultation 
with the Office of the National Coordinator for 
Health Information Technology, shall facilitate re-
gional sharing across State lines of prescription drug 
monitoring program data. 
(2) GRANTS.— 
(A) AWARDS.—In carrying out paragraph 
(1), the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health 
and Substance Use shall award grants to States 
(or a collaboration of States) to facilitate such 
regional sharing. 
(B) AMOUNT
OF
AWARDS
PER
FISCAL 
YEAR.—The total amount awarded under this 
paragraph with respect to any region per fiscal 
year shall be— 
(i) not less than $100,000; and 
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(ii) not more than $200,000. 
(C) 
AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIA-
TIONS.—To carry out this paragraph, there is 
authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000. 
Æ 
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