Whitfield Pushes for Additional Resources to Help States Combat Prescription Drug Abuse

Press Release

U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield (KY-01), recently pushed for the reauthorization of his bipartisan legislation, H.R. 3528, the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting (NASPER) Reauthorization Act during a House Health Subcommittee hearing entitled, "Examining Public Health Legislation to Help Local Communities." Whitfield's original legislation to create NASPER passed the House in 2005, but expired in 2010.

"We've all heard the statistics associated with the prescription drug abuse epidemic and they truly are staggering," stated Whitfield. "Drug overdose death rates in the United States have increased five-fold since 1980 and now kill more Americans than car crashes. Unfortunately, my home state of Kentucky has one of the highest death rates in the country. This is an issue that takes lives, ruins families and friendships, and is a drain on our health care system and its resources."

Originally authored by Whitfield, NASPER became law August 11, 2005, assisting states in combating prescription drug abuse through prescription drug monitoring programs, or PDMPs. In carrying out this objective, NASPER provides grants to states to establish and improve prescription drug monitoring programs.

Specifically, Whitfield introduced NASPER to foster the establishment of State-administered PDMPs to ensure that health care providers have access to timely, accurate prescription history information that can be used as a tool for the early identification of patients at risk for addiction and to prevent doctor shopping.

Dr. Steven Stack, a fellow Kentuckian from Lexington, testified at the hearing about the importance of PDMPs and the need to pass H.R. 3528 and see that the NASPER program is fully funded.

HR. 3528 is currently awaiting action in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, of which Whitfield is a senior member.

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