PCMA President and CEO testifies on drug abuse before House Subcommittee

Mark Merritt, president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA), recently testified before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law, proposing policy recommendations that would help stop the increasing trend of drug abuse and help with the reduction of costs at the “Treating the Opioid Epidemic: the State of Competition in the Markets for Addiction Medicine” hearing.

“We commend Congress for passing the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA),” Merritt said. “This new law will help stop ‘drugstore shopping’ by allowing Medicare Part D plans to restrict known abusers to select pharmacies for certain medications, such as opioids.”

Merritt also recommended other changes for policymakers to consider during the hearing. 
 
“Prescribers should be required to use e-prescribing for all controlled substances," he said. "State governments should improve their Prescription Drug Management Program (PDMP) databases to be more accessible, accurate in real-time, and integrated across the country and Medicare Part D plans should be allowed to suspend payments of suspicious claims, consistent with the rest of Medicare.”