Katherine Clark: “My amendment is simple. It directs the task force to consider any potential benefits from increasing the electronic…”

“My amendment is simple. It directs the task force to consider any potential benefits from increasing the electronic prescribing of opioids. We know that, with the increasing sophistication of health information technology, we have an opportunity to use that information for the benefit of our public health. We also know that paper prescriptions are subject to being stolen, copied, and misused. While that is a fact, 67 percent of prescriptions nationally are ordered electronically, but the rate for controlled substances is less than 1 percent. Electronic prescribing of opioids has the potential to provide data to help us identify problems, whether from a user or a prescriber, and focus our interventions on saving lives and preventing addiction. Back home in my district, Cambridge Health Alliance has adopted electronic prescriptions for controlled substances and have found it reduces fraud and allows administrators to track prescription patterns and detect overprescribing. Electronic prescriptions can be a key tool in fighting this epidemic. I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense amendment. I yield back the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Clark). The amendment was agreed to. Amendment No. 11 Offered by Mr. Rothfus The Acting CHAIR. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 11 printed in part A of House Report 114-551.”