Pubdate: Sat, 13 Aug 2005
Source: Courier-Journal, The (KY)
Copyright: 2005 The Courier-Journal
Contact:  http://www.courier-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97
Note: Source rarely prints LTEs received from outside its circulation area
Author: Jonathan M. Katz, Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

STATES TO MONITOR PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

Program May Curb 'Doctor Shopping'

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has signed into law a bill sponsor ed by Rep. 
Ed Whitfield of Kentucky to create electronic monitoring programs for 
prescriptions in all 50 states .

The legislation that Bush signed late Thursday is intended to prevent the 
abuse of prescription drugs.

It creates a grant program for states to create databases and enhance 
existing ones in hopes of ending the practice of "doctor shopping" by drug 
abusers seeking multiple prescriptions. It would authorize $60 million for 
the program through fiscal 2010.

Kentucky's electronic prescription monitoring database, called KASPER -- 
Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting -- will be eligible 
for enhancement grants under the law .

Establishing programs in adjacent states would help prevent abusers from 
crossing borders to get prescription drugs and then bring ing them back 
into Kentucky. "It's going to be a tremendous boost (for the Kentucky 
program) and be much more effective," said Whitfield , R-1st District .

But some in Congress worry the law will invade privacy.

"This bill lacks fundamental privacy protections, such as notifying 
patients if their information has been lost or stolen," said Rep. Edward J. 
Markey, D-Mass., whose amendment to add that notification to the bill was 
defeated in committee.

Whitfield said his staff worked with Markey and others to address privacy 
concerns, including requiring states to have standards for the protection 
of information and requiring states to establish penalties for the 
unauthorized use of data.

"If we feel like it's being abused we would definitely take action," 
Whitfield said.

A July letter from the American Medical Association in support of the bill 
called prescription drug abuse "one of the fastest growing public health 
problems" in the United States.

The letter cited a 2002 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
Administration survey that estimated there were 6.2 million recreational 
prescription drugs users.

The bill passed the House by voice vote and the Senate by unanimous consent 
last month .

Robert Benvenuti, inspector general of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and 
Family Services, said he hadn't seen full details of the new law but 
thought it was going to "be very positive" for Kentucky.

"If all states had the ability to tap into each others' information , we 
would know that that person is doctor shopping," Benvenuti said. "It will 
allow states to see not only what's going on in their states but what's 
going on in other states."

Nineteen states have programs that vary in effectiveness, Whitfield said.

Illinois, which borders his W estern Kentucky district, has a program that 
tracks Schedule II drugs, such as cocaine and oxycodone, but not drugs such 
as codeine, said John Halliwell, Whitfield's legislative director.

Tennessee and Indiana do not yet have such programs, Halliwell said.

Some federal money has been appropriated for state monitoring programs in 
the past on a limited basis. Those grants were administered by the 
Department of Justice, but this law will place the program under the 
Department of Health and Human Services.

"This is a health problem, and the Department of Health and Human Services 
is the most logical place to run a prescription drug program," Whitfield said.
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