United States 114th Congress Status: Died 1 D cosponsors

S 636 — Increasing the Safety of Prescription Drug Use Act of 2015

Last action — Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

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  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. Died in session

This bill died with 114th Congress. It reached “In Committee” and never advanced before the session ended, so it can no longer move — a new version would have to be reintroduced in the current session.

This bill is no longer active — its legislative session has ended, so there is no live prognosis. It would have to be reintroduced in the current session to move again.

Summary

Increasing the Safety of Prescription Drug Use Act of 2015 This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to revise, update, and expand state controlled substance monitoring programs, which ensure that prescription history information is accessible for investigations into drug diversion and errant prescribing and dispensing practices. A state's controlled substance monitoring program database must be interoperable with other states' databases and electronic health records, and must provide up-to-date patient information to practitioners. Practitioners and dispensers are required to use the database. Database information cannot be used to conduct a criminal investigation against a patient. Certain entities are allowed to make nonidentifiable information from a database available for research. Federal health care workers must screen patients for abuse of controlled substances, conduct brief interventions, and provide referrals for known or suspected abuse of controlled substances. Grants are established for: (1) a pilot project to develop a peer review process to evaluate prescribing and pharmacy dispensing patterns, (2) training health care providers to prevent controlled substance abuse, (3) evaluating the prospect of health professions boards reviewing the prescribing authorities of providers, and (4) developing criteria and processes that allow health professions boards or state agencies to certify education and training for informed and safe prescribing of certain controlled substances. Practitioners who register or renew a registration with the Drug Enforcement Administration to dispense or conduct research with controlled substances must have completed specified continuing medical education. A registered practitioner must screen patients for drug abuse before prescribing certain controlled substances. The Food and Drug Administration must consider whether naloxone (a drug used to rapidly reverse overdoses of heroin and other opiods) should be a behind-the-counter drug instead of a prescription drug. This bill amends the Controlled Substances Act to increase the number of patients a practitioner is allowed to treat by dispensing narcotic drugs for maintenance or detoxification.

Bill Text

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Action History

  1. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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1 sponsors · 0 co-sponsors · 546 not signed on

Sponsors (1)

Co-sponsors (0)

None.

Not signed on (546)

546 members have not signed on to this bill.

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"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Subjects

Child health Congressional oversight Correctional facilities and imprisonment Criminal justice information and records Drug safety, medical device, and laboratory regulation Drug therapy Drug trafficking and controlled substances Drug, alcohol, tobacco use Emergency medical services and trauma care Government studies and investigations Health facilities and institutions Health information and medical records Health personnel Health programs administration and funding Health promotion and preventive care Health technology, devices, supplies Licensing and registrations Medicaid Medical education Medical research Medical tests and diagnostic methods Medicare Military medicine Prescription drugs Solid waste and recycling State and local government operations Veterans' medical care Health
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Frequently asked questions

What does S 636 do?
Increasing the Safety of Prescription Drug Use Act of 2015 This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to revise, update, and expand state controlled substance monitoring programs, which ensure that prescription history information is accessible for investigations into drug diversion and errant prescribing and dispensing practices. A state's controlled substance monitoring program database must be interoperable with other states' databases and electronic health records, and must provide up-to-date patient information to practitioners. Practitioners and dispensers are required to use the database. Database information cannot be used to conduct a criminal investigation against a patient. Certain entities are allowed to make nonidentifiable information from a database available for research. Federal health care workers must screen patients for abuse of controlled substances, conduct brief interventions, and provide referrals for known or suspected abuse of controlled substances. Grants are established for: (1) a pilot project to develop a peer review process to evaluate prescribing and pharmacy dispensing patterns, (2) training health care providers to prevent controlled substance abuse, (3) evaluating the prospect of health professions boards reviewing the prescribing authorities of providers, and (4) developing criteria and processes that allow health professions boards or state agencies to certify education and training for informed and safe prescribing of certain controlled substances. Practitioners who register or renew a registration with the Drug Enforcement Administration to dispense or conduct research with controlled substances must have completed specified continuing medical education. A registered practitioner must screen patients for drug abuse before prescribing certain controlled substances. The Food and Drug Administration must consider whether naloxone (a drug used to rapidly reverse overdoses of heroin and other opiods) should be a behind-the-counter drug instead of a prescription drug. This bill amends the Controlled Substances Act to increase the number of patients a practitioner is allowed to treat by dispensing narcotic drugs for maintenance or detoxification.
Who sponsors S 636?
S 636 is sponsored by Tom Udall (D).
What is the current status of S 636?
This bill died with 114th Congress. It reached “In Committee” and never advanced before the session ended, so it can no longer move — a new version would have to be reintroduced in the current session.
Where can I track S 636?
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