Lawmakers join together to reintroduce bipartisan bill to require the use of prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) in all states that receive certain federal funding to combat opioid abuse and also require states to make their PDMP data available to other states

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Rob Portman (R-OH) reintroduced legislation to require that all states receiving certain federal funding to combat opioid abuse have prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) using best practices, and also require states to make their PDMP data available to other states. PDMPs can identify and prevent unsafe prescribing practices and doctor shopping, helping to prevent addiction before it starts.

“As a former prosecutor, I have seen the devastation caused by opioid abuse in communities across the country,” said Klobuchar. “Our bipartisan legislation would require states to have prescription drug monitoring programs that use best practices, curbing the kind of doctor shopping that facilitates addiction. Opioid addiction too often begins with the abuse of legal prescription painkillers. And with this bill, we can do something about that.”

“Four out of five heroin addicts in Ohio and across the country started with prescription painkillers. Too many of these people were prescribed a painkiller by their doctor and became addicted or tried a drug prescribed to someone else,” Portman said. “We are making progress in Ohio. In 2017, 568 million pain pills were dispensed, down 28 percent from a high of 793 million in 2012. This has helped bring an 88 percent drop since 2011 in the number of patients going from doctor to doctor in search of drugs.  Officials in Ohio credit the increased use of the prescription drug monitoring system, Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System (OARRS), which tracks prescriptions. Almost 89 million patient queries were made in 2017, up from 1.8 million in 2011. This bipartisan legislation would help Ohio continue to make progress against overprescribing by keeping better track of prescriptions and ensuring that addiction is discovered and treated as early as possible.”

"We applaud Senators Klobuchar and Portman for re-introducing this important legislation to strengthen PDMPs, which are critical to preventing overdoses and ensuring that opioids and other medicines are prescribed safely," said Nick Motu, Vice President and Chief External Affairs Officer at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. “Their bill is an essential next step in the effort to end the nation’s overdose epidemic and save lives.”

The Prescription Drug Monitoring Act would:

· Require drug dispensers in covered states to report to the PDMP each opioid prescription that they dispense to patients within 24 hours.

· Require practitioners in covered states to consult the PDMP before prescribing opioids to patients.

· Require states to actively notify practitioners when the PDMP shows that a patient exhibits patterns indicative of opioid misuse.

· Require states to make their PDMP data available to other states.

As a former Hennepin County Attorney, Klobuchar has long led local and national efforts to curb drug abuse and help people overcome addiction. In October 2018, three of Klobuchar’s bipartisan bills to combat the opioid epidemic were signed into law as part of the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act. The Synthetic Abuse and Labeling of Toxic Substances (SALTS) Act, which Klobuchar introduced with Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), will make it easier to prosecute the sale and distribution of “analogue” drugs, which are synthetic substances that are substantially similar to illegal drugs. The Synthetics Trafficking & Overdose Prevention (STOP) Act, which Klobuchar introduced with Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), will help stop dangerous synthetic drugs like fentanyl and carfentanil from being shipped through our borders to drug traffickers here in the United States. The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act, which Klobuchar introduced with Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), will help crack down on health care facilities or providers that try to game the system to take advantage of vulnerable patients. Klobuchar recently joined Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) and other senators to reintroduce the Budgeting for Opioid Addiction Treatment (LifeBOAT) Act, which would establish a reliable funding stream to provide and expand access to treatment for addiction.

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