Title: Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Best Practices Act of 2018
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Best Practices Act of 2018
This bill establishes a series of grant programs to support prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs), including a grant program to facilitate the adoption of a specified system that allows PDMP data to be shared across states.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6608 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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 prescription drug monitoring 
 programs to identify drug diversion and abuse, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Prescription Drug Monitoring Program 
Best Practices Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINES FOR USING DATA COLLECTED BY 
              PRESCRIPTION DRUG MONITORING 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 potential 
        enhancements to facilitate use of and strengthen prescription 
        drug monitoring programs to identify--
                    (A) unlawful diversion or misuse of controlled 
                substances; and
                    (B) the potential for harmful drug interactions;
            (2) include in such guidelines--
                    (A) data elements that should be included in 
                proactive, unsolicited reports that are generated 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 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 
        prescriptions for medication assisted treatments for substance 
        use disorders and opioid overdose reversal agents should be 
        included in prescription drug monitoring programs); and
            (4) not later than 12 months after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, submit to Congress a report 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 
Prevention, acting jointly, shall conduct a public workshop and 
otherwise engage with relevant stakeholders to help inform the 
development of best practices to--
            (1) identify patients at the highest risk for misuse 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 potential inappropriate 
        prescribing trends, and assess whether data on prescriptions 
        for medication assisted treatments for substance use disorder 
        and opioid overdose reversal agents should be incorporated and 
        specific considerations for prescribers based on such 
        information; and
            (3) identify additional enhancements to prescription drug 
        monitoring programs and potential barriers to adoption and 
        recommendations for addressing such barriers.
    (c) Grants.--
            (1) In general.--The Director of the Bureau of Justice 
        Assistance and the Director of the Centers for Disease Control 
        and Prevention, acting jointly, shall award grants to States to 
        support adoption of best practices identified under subsection 
        (b).
            (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 program 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 system described in 
                paragraph (1).
                    (B) Eligibility.--To be eligible to receive a grant 
                under this paragraph, a State must not 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 paragraph shall be--
                            (i) not less than $50,000; and
                            (ii) not more than $100,000.
                    (E) Authorization of appropriations.--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 efficiently 
                and effectively State prescription drug monitoring 
                programs are sharing data pursuant to the PMP 
                InterConnect System of the National Boards of Pharmacy 
                (or other systems); and
                    (B) submit a report to the Congress on the results 
                of such study, including recommendations for the 
                improvement of such sharing.
            (2) Response by bja.--Not later than 180 days after the 
        date on which the report under paragraph (1) is submitted to 
        the Congress, the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance 
        shall submit a plan to the Congress for addressing the 
        recommendations 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 regional 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
                            (ii) not more than $200,000.
                    (C) Authorization of appropriations.--To carry out 
                this paragraph, there is authorized to be appropriated 
                $5,000,000.
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