Pharmacists in Oregon are pressing the state legislature to support a bill to allow e-prescribing of Schedule II drugs, according to the Salem Statesman Journal.
On Monday, Gary A. Schnabel, executive director of the Oregon Board of Pharmacy; Rob Bovett, district attorney for Lincoln County; and Niki Terzieff, representing the Oregon Pharmacy Coalition lobbied for the reintroduction of House Bill 3522 before the House Interim Committee on Healthcare.
The bill was well on its way to passage last year, when the legislature "simply ran out of time," according to the story.
More than 30 states allow e-prescribing of Schedule II drugs, which include painkillers such as Oxycontin, opiates such as codeine or morphine and stimulants such as Adderall.
Meanwhile, lawmakers and the governor in Pennsylvania are backing creation of a database of prescriptions for habit-forming drugs. Privacy concerns have been a major factor preventing passage of similar legislation previously, according to the Reading Eagle.
The state already has a prescription-monitoring database, but it's limited to powerful painkillers including Fentanyl, Oxycodone and Percocet.
One state lawmaker is pressing for the state attorney general to investigate the prescription painkiller business in Pennsylvania.
Missouri remains the only state that has not at least passed legislation to create a prescription-monitoring program. Yet experts say "doctor shopping" for painkillers remains a daily problem largely because those monitoring programs don't carry tough consequences for inappropriate prescribers.
To learn more:
- Find the Statesman Journal article
- here's the Reading Eagle piece