[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 127 (Friday, August 3, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10935-S10936]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BROWN (for himself and Mr. Voinovich):
  S. 2013. A bill to initially apply the required use of tamper-
resistant prescription pads under the Medicaid Program to schedule II 
narcotic drugs and to delay the application of the requirement to other 
prescription drugs for 18 months; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I am introducing legislation today that 
would delay for 18 months the requirement that doctors write Medicaid 
prescriptions on tamper-resistant paper. I am pleased that my colleague 
and friend, Mr. Voinovich, has agreed to cosponsor this important bill.
  Let me place the bill in context. The Iraq supplemental signed into 
law 2 months ago requires all Medicaid prescriptions to be written on 
tamper-resistant paper effective October 1, 2007.
  It is important to understand what tamper-resistant prescribing does 
and does not do.
  First, what it does not do.
  Tamper-resistant prescribing does not help prevent medication errors, 
which occur when a provider writes the wrong prescription, a pharmacist 
dispenses the wrong medicine, or a patient takes the wrong dose of a 
medicine.
  Tamper-resistant prescribing does, however, help prevent fraud.
  Tamper-resistant paper is intended to prevent the fraudulent 
modification of prescriptions, particularly prescriptions for opiates 
and other narcotics.
  It is a worthy goal, and one we should pursue.
  But the October 1, 2007, implementation date simply isn't realistic.
  More time is needed to inform physicians and pharmacists about these 
new requirements and make sure that physicians across America have 
tamper-resistant pads in their offices.
  If we don't delay the requirement, come October 1 pharmacists 
throughout our Nation will face an impossible situation.
  The pharmacist can turn the beneficiary away since they are not going 
to be paid if they seek payment for a Medicaid prescription that is not 
written on tamper proof paper. Or they can go ahead and fill it and 
hope they don't get sued.
  And what about the Medicaid beneficiary who needs to fill a 
prescription?

[[Page S10936]]

What about the financial integrity of Medicaid itself?
  Let us say a Medicaid beneficiary needs insulin.
  How much work does she miss and what is the additional cost to 
Medicaid if, in order to fill her prescription, this beneficiary must: 
1. go to her doctor for a prescription; 2. go to her local pharmacy, 
which is forced to turn her away; 3. go to the emergency room in the 
hopes she can get a temporary supply; 4. go back to her doctor for a 
tamper-resistant prescription; and 5. go back to her pharmacy for her 
medicine?
  If you give the health care sector enough time to prepare for the 
tamper-proof requirement, that requirement will improve the public 
health and reduce Medicaid costs.
  Implemented prematurely, and the equation flips, Medicaid wastes 
dollars on needless doctor and hospital visits, and Medicaid 
beneficiaries suffer the consequences of unfilled prescriptions.
  Providing more time to ensure smooth implementation of the tamper-
resistant prescribing requirement is the smart thing to do and the 
right thing to do. It is the right thing to do for Medicaid 
beneficiaries, for community pharmacies, and for U.S. taxpayers.
  On behalf of all of these constituencies, we should send this 
legislation to the President's desk as soon as possible.
                                 ______