Ed Whitfield: “in 2005, the U.S. Congress adopted the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act, which was signed…”

“in 2005, the U.S. Congress adopted the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act, which was signed into law by the President in 2005. The amendment at the desk simply provides funding of $10 million for this authorized program. The $10 million is taken from the Secretary's Management Account, so the offset is taken care of. On March 29 of this year, 2007, Chairman Dingell, Ranking Member Barton and the chairman and ranking member of every subcommittee of Energy and Commerce, as well as other Members, sent a letter to Chairman Obey and Ranking Member Lewis requesting that they consider funding this program. And we had hoped that it would be included in this HHS appropriation bill because NASPER, as passed by the Congress, is located and placed at HHS. Now, the Appropriations Committee on another bill has provided funding for an unauthorized drug monitoring program located at the Department of Justice. That program is primarily based and focused on law enforcement. And we do not object to that program in any way, but I might say that last year, for 2007 and 2006, money was made available for both the NASPER program at HHS and the Department of Justice program, which is more based on law enforcement. The NASPER program really addresses the prescription drug addiction problem and helps physicians work with patients and makes physicians aware of prescriptions that those patients have.”