MO Sens Finalize Bill to Further Prescription Drug Monitoring Program

Following years of debate among Missouri lawmakers, state senators might have perfected the bill to implement a statewide prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP), which would make it the final state to carry out a statewide PDMP.

Last year’s Senate handler, Tony Luetkemeyer, proposed a similar amendment to the bill that passed the state House of Representatives to create the Joint Oversight Task Force of Prescription Drug Monitoring. However, the amendment attempt stalled in the Senate after COVID-19 disrupted the legislative assembly.

Now, Senator Holly Rehder is carrying out the proposal to develop the task force to help identify a vendor that would securely collect and maintain patient data for up to three years.

Rehder proposed members from the Board of Registration for the Healing Arts, the Board of Nursing, the Missouri Dental Board, and the Board of Pharmacy would supervise the PDMP.

It took the senate six hours to finalize the bill.

According to medical experts, PDMPs advance prescribing practices, target treatment to at-risk patients, and mitigate the risk of potential abuse or fraud by patients who obtain prescriptions from multiple providers. Providers can evaluate the data before prescribing opioids to interfere if there are signs of misuse or abuse.

“PDMP is a tool for medical professionals,” Rehder explained during the hearing, per The Missouri Times. “It’s used for the same reasons as other electronic medical records — patient safety, medical prescribing practices, and overall allowing the medical professional to understand their patients’ history. It also allows providers to see concerning trends in patents’ narcotics history.”

In the past, conservative Republicans from Missouri have lobbied against PDMPs due to privacy concerns. Republicans do not want patient data to land in the hands of law enforcement.

Specifically, Senator Mike Moon noted potential concerns regarding patient data privacy, data security, and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) guidelines.

“If they’re going to prepare for sale and distribution and are communicating to a third party, our data may not be as safe as what we expected,” Moon said during the hearing, according to St. Louis Post Dispatch. “It appears that they would be able to do whatever they wanted to with that because the state would be agreeing with these terms.”

Although Moon pitched an amendment to eliminate the current St. Louis County PDMP, lawmakers quickly voted against the proposal. St. Louis County has a PDMP database covering nearly 85 percent of the Missouri population, but it is not statewide.

Moon said the vendor that runs the St. Louis-based PDMP allows patient data to be broadly shared. But, Rehder said state decision-makers would not select the vendor unless it restructures its user agreements.

“It’s no longer a question if we have a PDMP,” Rehder countered. “We have a PDMP. It’s which one we want.”

Senator Rick Brattin echoed Moon’s apprehensions during the hearing.

“Are we not the last remaining holdout state in the entire union?” Brattin questioned. If a PDMP platform worked effectively, “we should be the only state dealing with this epidemic.”

According to St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Moon added that drug treatment is not always practical unless the user wants to change. However, Rehder described how her daughter battled addiction before finding a helpful program.

Addicts are “going to make it out if people don’t give up on them,” Rehder concluded.

The state Senate must vote a final time before the bill arrives at the state House of Representatives.