Bill Would Create Statewide Rx Monitoring Program

Wednesday, February 5, 2020 | 0

A bill introduced this year would make Missouri the 50th state to adopt a statewide prescription drug-monitoring program.

Rep. Holly Rehder

Most of the state is already covered by county-based PDMPs, but some 52 counties in are without coverage, according to a local news report. House Bill 1693, sponsored by Rep. Holly Rehder, R-Sikeston, would help combat the opioid crisis that continues to plague Missouri and most states, the lawmaker said.

“All other states have been doing this for many years,” Rehder wrote in a text message to the Southeast Missourian newspaper. “California started the first ... program in the 1930s.”

Rehder has sponsored similar bills in each of the last eight years. Although the measures have passed the House, they have stalled in the Senate over privacy concerns. Rehder said the bill this year will strengthen privacy protections because it would require that law officers obtain a court order to access patient information.

The bill has passed two House committees.