Congressman MacArthur, co-chair of the Bipartisan Heroin Task Force, announced the introduction of new legislation to create a nationwide Prescription Safety Alert System, which will give America’s pharmacists a new tool to protect patients from opioid overuse. Congressman MacArthur introduced the ALERT Act with Congresswoman Barbara Comstock (R-VA) and Congresswoman Ann Kuster (D-NH), the Democratic co-chair of the Bipartisan Heroin Task Force.
The ALERT (Analyzing and Leveraging Existing Rx Transactions) Act would require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to work with the private sector to establish a Prescription Safety Alert System. The alert system would analyze the transaction data that pharmacists and payers, like insurance companies or government programs like Medicare, already generate whenever prescriptions are filled. That data analysis would provide real-time feedback to pharmacists, directly into their normal workflow at the point of sale.
The SENIOR Communities Protection Act, MacArthur’s bill to crack down on pharmacy Medicare fraud that contributes to the opioid crisis, passed the House in July and is being considered in the Senate.
The ALERT Act has been endorsed by numerous organizations in the healthcare space, representing pharmacies, behavioral health and substance abuse treatment experts, and heath technology providers, including the Brain Injury Association of America, Centerstone, CoverMyMeds, the eRx Network, Health IT Now, OCHIN, RelayHealth Pharmacy Solutions, the Kennedy Forum, and Walgreens.
