National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act of 2004

NATIONAL ALL SCHEDULES PRESCRIPTION ELECTRONIC REPORTING ACT OF 2004 -- (House of Representatives - October 05, 2004)

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3015) to amend the Public Health Service Act to establish an electronic system for practitioner monitoring of the dispensing of any schedule II, III, or IV controlled substance, and for other purposes, as amended.

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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) for yielding me this time.

Mr. Speaker, as a sponsor of H.R. 3015, I rise today in strong support of this important piece of legislation and urge its passage in the House of Representatives. H.R. 3015, the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act, provides an avenue for addressing the illegal diversion and misuse of prescription drugs, which constitutes one of the fastest growing areas of drug abuse in our Nation today, affecting people of all areas of our Nation, all ages and all income levels.

Health care practitioners and pharmacists desperately need electronic prescription drug monitoring systems to ensure that they are prescribing and dispensing schedule II, III, and IV controlled substances that are medically necessary. This bill provides the resources to States to create and operate State-based prescription drug monitoring programs, allows physicians to access this information, and allows for States to communicate with one another. If enacted into law, this bill would help physicians prevent their patients from becoming addicted to prescription medications and would help law enforcement with criminal investigations in the illicit prescription drug market.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3015 represents a work of great bipartisan effort; and I thank the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. WHITFIELD), of course the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood), and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Strickland) for their willingness to move forward with this effort. But I also want to thank our chairmen and our ranking members of the full committee as well as the subcommittee.

This is an effort to alleviate the prescription drug abuse problem plaguing our Nation. In addition, I want to applaud the leadership of the American Society for Interventional Pain Physicians for working with Congress in this significant public health initiative. I have to say I have never seen a more effective lobbying effort than what they put forth to try to move this bill.

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