GOE18094 S.L.C. 115TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. ll To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to require e-prescribing for coverage under part D of the Medicare program of prescription drugs that are controlled substances. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES llllllllll Mr. BENNET (for himself, Mr. HELLER, Ms. WARREN, and Mr. TOOMEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on llllllllll A BILL To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to require e-prescribing for coverage under part D of the Medicare program of prescription drugs that are controlled substances. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 4 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Every Prescription 5 Conveyed Securely Act’’. GOE18094 S.L.C. 2 1 SEC. 2. REQUIRING E-PRESCRIBING FOR COVERAGE OF 2 COVERED 3 STANCES. 4 PART D CONTROLLED SUB- (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1860D–4(e) of the Social 5 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w–104(e)) is amended by 6 adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(7) REQUIREMENT 8 CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES.— 9 ‘‘(A) IN OF E-PRESCRIBING FOR GENERAL.—Subject to subpara- 10 graph (B), a prescription for a covered part D 11 drug under a prescription drug plan (or under 12 an MA–PD plan) for a schedule II, III, IV, or 13 V controlled substance shall be transmitted by 14 a health care practitioner electronically in ac- 15 cordance with an electronic prescription drug 16 program that meets the requirements of para- 17 graph (2). 18 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN CIR- 19 CUMSTANCES.—The 20 to rulemaking, specify circumstances with re- 21 spect to which the Secretary may waive the re- 22 quirement under subparagraph (A), with re- 23 spect to a covered part D drug, including in the 24 case of— Secretary shall, pursuant GOE18094 S.L.C. 3 1 ‘‘(i) a prescription issued when the 2 prescriber and dispenser are the same enti- 3 ty; 4 ‘‘(ii) a prescription issued that cannot 5 be transmitted electronically due to the 6 constraints of the most recently imple- 7 mented version of the National Council for 8 Prescription 9 Standard; Drug Programs SCRIPT 10 ‘‘(iii) a prescription issued by a practi- 11 tioner who has received a waiver or a re- 12 newal thereof for a specified period deter- 13 mined by the Secretary, not to exceed one 14 year, from the requirement to use elec- 15 tronic prescribing, pursuant to a process 16 established by regulation by the Secretary, 17 due to demonstrated economic hardship, 18 technological limitations that are not rea- 19 sonably within the control of the practi- 20 tioner, or other exceptional circumstance 21 demonstrated by the practitioner; 22 ‘‘(iv) a prescription issued by a practi- 23 tioner under circumstances in which, not- 24 withstanding the practitioner’s ability to 25 make an electronic prescription as required GOE18094 S.L.C. 4 1 by this subsection, such practitioner rea- 2 sonably determines that it would be im- 3 practical for the individual involved to ob- 4 tain substances prescribed by electronic 5 prescription in a timely manner, and such 6 delay would adversely impact the individ- 7 ual’s medical condition involved; 8 ‘‘(v) a prescription issued by a practi- 9 tioner allowing for the dispensing of a non- 10 patient specific prescription pursuant to a 11 standing order, approved protocol for drug 12 therapy, collaborative drug management, 13 or comprehensive medication management, 14 in response to a public health emergency, 15 or other circumstances where the practi- 16 tioner may issue a non-patient specific pre- 17 scription; 18 ‘‘(vi) a prescription issued by a practi- 19 tioner prescribing a drug under a research 20 protocol; 21 ‘‘(vii) a prescription issued by a prac- 22 titioner for a drug for which the Food and 23 Drug Administration requires the prescrip- 24 tion to contain certain elements that are 25 not able to be accomplished with electronic GOE18094 S.L.C. 5 1 prescribing such as, a drug with risk eval- 2 uation and mitigation strategies that in- 3 clude elements to assure safe use; and 4 5 6 7 ‘‘(viii) a prescription issued by a practitioner for an individual who— ‘‘(I) receives hospice care under this title; or 8 ‘‘(II) is a resident of a long-term 9 care facility, of a facility described in 10 section 1905(d), or of another facility 11 for which frequently abused drugs are 12 dispensed for residents through a con- 13 tract with a single pharmacy. 14 ‘‘(C) DISPENSING.—(i) Nothing in this 15 paragraph shall be construed as requiring a 16 sponsor of a prescription drug plan under this 17 part, MA organization offering an MA–PD plan 18 under part C, or a pharmacist to verify that a 19 practitioner, with respect to a prescription for a 20 covered part D drug, has a waiver (or is other- 21 wise exempt) under subparagraph (B) from the 22 requirement under subparagraph (A). 23 ‘‘(ii) Nothing in this paragraph shall be 24 construed as affecting the ability of the plan to 25 cover or the pharmacists’ ability to continue to GOE18094 S.L.C. 6 1 dispense covered part D drugs from otherwise 2 valid written, oral or fax prescriptions that are 3 consistent with laws and regulations. 4 ‘‘(iii) Nothing in this paragraph shall be 5 construed as affecting the ability of an indi- 6 vidual who is being prescribed a covered part D 7 drug to designate a particular pharmacy to dis- 8 pense the covered part D drug to the extent 9 consistent with the requirements under sub- 10 11 section (b)(1) and under this paragraph. ‘‘(D) ENFORCEMENT.—The Secretary 12 shall, pursuant to rulemaking, have authority to 13 enforce and specify appropriate penalties for 14 non-compliance with the requirement under 15 subparagraph (A).’’. 16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 17 subsection (a) shall apply to coverage of drugs prescribed 18 on or after January 1, 2020.