Bilirakis Fights Against Prescription Drug Abuse

Washington, D.C. – Representative Gus Bilirakis, member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, today participated during the Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigation's hearing titled Medicare Part D: Measures Needed to Strengthen Program Integrity.

"Medicare Part D has been an important addition to the Medicare program, and it's a program that my constituents love, and something Congress can be proud of. However, I have been concerned about the growing prescription drug problem in the US and within the Medicare program," Bilirakis said.

"Back in 2013, myself and my colleague, Ben Ray Lujan, first introduced the Medicare Part D Patient Safety and Drug Abuse Prevention Act which would create a drug management program – also known as a lock-in program – to prevent physician shopping and pharmacy shopping within the Medicare program. The Office of the Inspector General has been supportive of lock-in programs, and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has said they need legislative action in order to adopt a lock in program for Medicare," continued Bilirakis.

Bilirakis concluded: "Last week the House passed the 21st Century Cures Act, and that bill included my pharmacy lock-in provision for Medicare. I say to CMS: lock-in is coming. I will continue to fight against drug abuse, and ensure those who legitimately need drugs get them."

In its testimony, the Office of the Inspector General wrote:

"The law should be changed to more effectively deal with beneficiaries who may be abusing the program or inflicting harm on themselves by overutilizing drugs. OIG investigations have found that Part D beneficiaries can be both victims and perpetrators of fraud. Beneficiaries can be harmed by overprescribing. On the other hand, some of the fraud trends prevalent in Part D involve beneficiaries who act as complicit patients. For example, in one investigation, the complicit beneficiary received unnecessary prescriptions, filled them at various pharmacies, and sold the pills to drug-trafficking organizations. This could be addressed by restricting beneficiaries to a limited number of pharmacists or prescribers when warranted. This is commonly referred to as "lock-in" and has been successfully implemented by State Medicaid programs. However, CMS has stated that it would require legislative authority to implement these restrictions."

View his complete remarks here.