Howard Griffith

But the RFS I considered was a failure, because here we are 13 years later.

I was on the committee in 2005, and I want to thank our former chairman, Joe Barton, who was here a minute ago.

Wouldn't you agree that this evidence demonstrates the critical role of the PDMPs in addressing the opioid epidemic, saving both lives and dollars?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Appreciate you being here this afternoon.

I was excited to hear that you were excited about that and passionate about it.

I share the privacy concerns that you have heard from a lot of us.

I think we do need to discuss it, because one of the things that it also says is is that if there is a patient in hospice or palliative care, they would be exempt from the requirement to consult the PDMP.

If more physicians and pharmacists were checking the PDMP, would you expect the number of opioid prescriptions to decrease? I would.

The PDMP discussion draft from Representative Griffith and Ranking Member Pallone would incentivize States to continue to improve their PDMPs

Rep. Griffith's bill would realign PDMPs under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to coordinate efforts that will improve data collection and integration into physician workflow.

I would love to know if we can get everybody on the same page.

The problems would be very similar. It would be reasonable to make that conclusion, would it not?

We are trying to figure out what is both right for the patient and right for society as a whole.

That is a pretty cheap fix for a serious problem.

It would take some time for the DEA field to find a medical expert, wouldn't you agree?

I think I can speak for the whole committee to say this needs to stop, it needs to stop now, and we need to figure out how we are going to protect our constituents and our citizens.

I recognize it's not necessarily your field, but it's something we might want to look at at some point.

I represent the part of Virginia that has Virginia Tech, where a lot of research is being done.

So I can tell Paster Jones that you all are not against it?

Well, I really appreciate that.

So I have heard a lot of comments from my colleagues on both sides of the aisle about concerns about doing research with different--and I don't know what the right word is--but when you change the formula a little bit on fentanyl, and they…

If the Government is really serious about speeding up the slow approval process and reducing health costs, a process like this would help to do it.

I know that there have been some issues. But for rural areas the competitive bid reimbursement adjustment has been deadly for durable medical equipment suppliers.

May I get your commitment that your staff at HHS and CMS will work swiftly to allow such a waiver?

I don't think it's a partisan issue. I think you'd find support on both sides of the aisle to change the laws.