Senator Chuck Grassley, along with Senator Sherrod Brown and Senator Richard Blumenthal recently introduced bipartisan legislation that is expected to increase transparency in the prescription drug payment process, S. 2891, The “Fighting the Opioid Epidemic with Sunshine Act.”
The Fighting the Opioid Epidemic with Sunshine Act will require drug companies and medical device makers to publicly disclose the same payments made to nurse practitioners and physician assistants for promotional talks, consulting, and other interactions. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants write a significant number of prescriptions and should be included in these disclosures.
The Senators believe that “by shining a light on the relationship between drug companies and prescriptions for opioids, greater accountability will be achieved.” Each of the three introducing Senators released a statement on the topic.
“Last year, prescriptions for opioid painkillers in Iowa amounted to nearly 300 million pills. That’s 90 pills per person in Iowa. Nationwide, prescription opioid sales almost quadrupled from 1999 to 2014. It’s an epidemic that is destroying individuals, families and communities in Iowa and nationwide,” Grassley said. “The Fighting the Opioid Epidemic with Sunshine Act is one more critical step lawmakers can take to stop the spreading of opioid abuse and hold accountable those who promote opioids for financial gain only.”
“Ohioans deserve to know their provider is making decisions in their own best interest – not the best interest of the drug and device companies providing kickbacks,” said Senator Brown.
“The opioid epidemic has taught us a terrible lesson: without full transparency, pharmaceutical companies can operate under the cover of darkness, possibly using gifts and payments to influence the prescribing practices of medical professionals like nurse practitioners and physicians assistants. That’s why it is absolutely essential that pharmaceutical companies disclose gifts and payments made to additional health care providers who prescribe opioids and other drugs – not just doctors,” Blumenthal said. “Our bipartisan bill will rein in bad behavior by increasing transparency and accountability across the healthcare industry. Increased access to information is in the public’s best interest, and this legislation will ensure healthcare consumers receive safe, efficient, and cost-effective practices.”
The bill has been read twice and referred to the Senate Committee on Finance.
Of interest to our readers, a similar (if not the same exact) bill was introduced last session. It seems that this newest Fighting the Opioid Epidemic with Sunshine Act is simply a repackaging of that bill, using the popular “opioid” name in an attempt to ride the anti-opioid wave. While there is not much interest in extending Open Payments in the House of Representatives, it is possible that there may be some interest generated if the bill also extended the exemption for CME, textbooks and reprints, as passed in the 2017 House Version of 21st Century Cures, but was stopped by Senator Grassley in the Senate version of 21st Century Cures.