Departments of Commerce and Justice and Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008--Continued

Floor Speech

DEPARTMENTS OF COMMERCE AND JUSTICE AND SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008--Continued

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Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I would like to engage the distinguished chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations, Ms. Mikulski, in a colloquy concerning the e-prescribing of controlled substances. Would the chairman and manager of the bill entertain a question?

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I would be happy to.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I thank the chairman. As she knows, I am a profound believer in the potential of health information technology to revolutionize the way we deliver health care in this country. The potential for better coordinated care, reduced medical errors, increased patient satisfaction, and enhanced patient peace of mind is enormous. It is also worth noting that several well-respected organizations estimate annual savings near $80 billion.

Unfortunately, we have been unable, as a nation, to develop an interoperable, integrated health information infrastructure the way we were able to do with our highway system or our railroad tracks. This is the result of a variety of barriers that we, as legislators, have a responsibility to tackle if we are going to take this necessary step to improve health care in this Nation. One of those barriers is the current prohibition by the Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA, on the electronic prescribing of controlled substances.

This ban requires physicians who e-prescribe to maintain two separate systems: an electronic system for noncontrolled substances and a paper system for controlled substances. This is an excessive encumbrance for doctors who are trying to do the right thing for their patients--an encumbrance that has unfortunately led many overburdened doctors to give up electronic prescribing altogether. This is a travesty.

As a former attorney general and a former U.S. attorney, I am sensitive to the prosecutorial concerns of the Drug Enforcement Administration. But CMS has been working without success for years with the DEA to resolve their differences on this issue. Apparently, the DEA refuses to budge. I would like to know why. Billion-dollar transactions are done electronically; highly classified national security information travels electronically; military attack aircraft are targeted electronically. I would say to the DEA: Please do not tell me we cannot figure out a way for a doctor to prescribe Vicodin electronically. I think we need to demand a joint report from CMS and the DEA laying out a way, or ways, to overcome this hurdle, to be completed at the earliest practicable date but no later than 1 month after the date of enactment. In the absence of the DEA changing the rules, we must seek a statutory solution to this problem. Considering the extraordinary potential of e-prescribing, we have to break this logjam.

Mr. President, I would ask the chairman if she would work with me to ensure that CMS and the DEA will work together to propose a reasonable approach soon to allow the electronic prescribing of controlled substances?

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