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NEWS
Drug bills pass House
Oxycontin 80's are a commonly abused prescription pill.
CHARLESTON - The House of Delegates completed legislative action Wednesday on two bills that target prescription drug abuse.
One of the measures (SB 365) mandates that pharmacies provide online access to their pharmacists so they can view a statewide prescription drug database. The other (SB 81) requires physicians to use tamper-resistant paper when writing a prescription.
Both bills, which passed by a 97-0 vote with three absences, attempt to curb prescription drug fraud and abuse, a problem that has skyrocketed in recent years. The bills had already passed the Senate.
With 17.7 prescriptions per capita filled last year, West Virginia outpaced the national average of 11.5 prescriptions, according to Verispan, a health care information company.
The Centers for Disease Control also shows the Mountain State had the greatest increase -- 550 percent -- in poisoning deaths between 1999 and 2004. Ninety percent of those deaths were related to prescription medications.
Senate Bill 365 intends to give pharmacists access to the West Virginia Controlled Substance Monitoring Database, a tool used to catch people who try to get a single prescription filled multiple times.
At least a third of the state's retail pharmacies, including CVS and Rite Aid, restrict their employees from accessing the Internet during work hours for privacy reasons, said Sen. Evan Jenkins, D-Cabell, a lead sponsor on the prescription drug legislation. Without online access, they cannot view the database.
Most pharmacies have responded that they can adjust to the new requirements, Jenkins said.
Senate Bill 81 was amended in the House to require that any paper used for writing prescriptions must be tamper-resistant. Jenkins said he had heard concerns from physicians that the bill would force them to use prescription pads.
"Many physicians have abandoned prescriptions pads and are now using computer paper or e-prescribing," he said. "We didn't want to leave the impression that we are making them take a step back."
The bill is modeled after legislation in New York that saved the state $68 million in Medicaid fraud during the first six months of implementation, Jenkins said. According to initial estimates, West Virginia could save $10 million to $25 million annually, he said.
Jenkins credited House Health and Human Resources Chairman Don Perdue with shepherding the bills through the chamber with relative ease.
Perdue, a pharmacist, said he receives fraudulent prescriptions that look more authentic at his workplace.
"It's getting to the point where they print their own pads with the names of real or fictitious physicians on them," he said. "They are becoming more technologically sound in terms of their practices, so we had to act."
In addition to the database and tamper-resistant prescription bills, Jenkins and Sen. Ron Stollings, D-Boone, introduced six other pieces of legislation aimed at prescription drug abuse. Three of those six are still alive.
These bills would require physicians who dispense medication to follow the same reporting procedures as pharmacists for certain drugs, give the state medical examiner's office access to the prescription drug database and assist prosecutors with cases involving a patient seeking prescriptions from numerous doctors.
"We started this session with a package of bills to tackle the drug crime and prescription drug abuse crisis," Jenkins said. "Passing legislation is never easy, but it looks like our efforts in five key areas are going to pay off and become law."
