Prescription Drug Monitoring

CSG's National Center for Interstate Compacts will host an upcoming webinar highlighting CSG's work to limit prescription drug abuse .  The webinar, which is scheduled for Wednesday, March 7 at 1:30 PM Eastern Time will focus on CSG's efforts to develop a prescription drug monitoring compact.  During the hour long session attendees will hear from the following subject matter experts:

Dating back to America’s colonial past, interstate compacts are one of the few tools specifically granted to states by the U.S. Constitution. The evolution of the modern compact has provided states and territories ("the states") a sophisticated administrative mechanism, allowing interstate collaboration to resolve complex policy challenges, while simultaneously avoiding federal intervention.  Policymakers should have several compacts on their radar in 2012.  Below is list of some important compacts and a status update for each. 

Last week the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Vermont law barring the sale of prescription drug data for marketing purposes.  A 6-3 ruling by the Court concluded the Vermont law violated the free speech rights of drug manufactures.  At issue was the ability of pharmacists to sell prescription drug data to drug companies, which was then being used for marketing purposes.  While the Vermont law made this practice illegal, it permitted similar data to be sold for other purposes, such as research. 

This week the Obama Administration unveiled an ambitious plan to curb prescription drug abuse by cracking down on pill mills and doctor shopping and requiring drug manufacturers to develop education programs aimed at both doctors and patients.