Lawmakers gave first-round approval Jan. 27 to a bill intended to enhance Nebraska\u2019s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP).<\/p>\n
As introduced last session by Omaha Sen. Sara Howard, LB471 would strengthen the program by:
\n\u2022\tprohibiting patients from opting out of the system;
\n\u2022\tallowing prescribers and dispensers to access the system at no cost;
\n\u2022\trequiring all controlled substance prescriptions to be entered into the system; and
\n\u2022\tcapturing information relating to all payers, including Medicaid.<\/p>\n
Howard said the bill would close loopholes in the existing PDMP without a cost to the state.<\/p>\n
LB471 originally included a $500,000 fiscal note to cover the cost of developing a new platform to implement the changes, Howard said, but that cost would be eliminated by two grants secured by the state Department of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will have about $500,000 for the next two years to fund this,\u201d she said, adding that Douglas County alone estimates that 90 to 100 deaths in the county each year can be attributed to opioid painkiller overdose.<\/p>\n
A Health and Human Services Committee amendment, adopted 46-0, would require prescription dispensers to report to the system and specifically lists the information to be reported.<\/p>\n
Lincoln Sen. Kathy Campbell, chairperson of the committee, said the amendment would better address the problem of drug-seeking patients, which has been a concern of the committee for a number of years.<\/p>\n
\u201cLest we think that prescription drug overdoses are not happening in Nebraska,\u201d she said, \u201cwe are the same, as this is a national epidemic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heartwell Sen. John Kuehn, a veterinarian, brought an amendment that replaced the bill while incorporating the original proposal and the committee amendment. In addition, his amendment would include veterinarians under the bill\u2019s provisions beginning Jan. 1, 2018.<\/p>\n
Kuehn noted that veterinarians are able to obtain a Drug Enforcement Administration number, which allows them to prescribe and dispense controlled substances. As a result, he said, veterinarians should be a part of the state\u2019s PDMP.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it is critical that as we address the issue of prescription drugs, and the diversion of controlled substances, that all providers be on the same footing,\u201d Kuehn said.<\/p>\n
The amendment also would establish a 10-member Veterinary Prescription Monitoring Program Task Force. The task force would study and develop recommendations regarding which controlled substances veterinarians should report under the system, as well as appropriate reporting procedures.<\/p>\n
Membership would include three senators, six licensed veterinarians and a representative of the PDMP. The task force would report its findings and recommendations to the Health and Human Services Committee by Dec. 1, 2016.<\/p>\n
Sen. Robert Hilkemann of Omaha supported the proposal, calling it long overdue.<\/p>\n
\u201cNebraska is just about dead last\u201449th in the country\u2014in dealing with this issue,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is important legislation that we should have had a long time ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bellevue Sen. Sue Crawford agreed, saying Nebraska has become a magnet for drug seekers because of current loopholes in the state\u2019s monitoring system.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bill and the grants together will help us create an effective information system to tackle prescription drug overdoses and prescription drug diversion and to address this important issue in our state,\u201d Crawford said.<\/p>\n
Sen. Mark Kolterman of Seward also supported the bill, saying he has seen the result of painkiller addiction first-hand in his family.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of people on the streets today who have the same story and it\u2019s time we do something about it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re never going to eliminate the problem, but we\u2019re going to do what we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following adoption of the Kuehn amendment on a 46-0 vote, lawmakers advanced the bill to select file 47-0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lawmakers gave first-round approval Jan. 27 to a bill intended to enhance Nebraska\u2019s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP). As introduced<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[85],"class_list":["post-18183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-and-human-services","tag-sen-sara-howard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18183"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18184,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18183\/revisions\/18184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}