The Alaska Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 132, which provides exemption for veterinarians from mandatory participation in the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program for their non-human patients. Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs are designed for use in human medicine, not for veterinary medical practice in animals. The PDMP is not effective for use with animal patients, as animals do not have identifiers such as a social security number, and veterinarians must view human owners’ private health data before treating an animal.
Sen. Roger Holland (Anchorage) said:
“Alaska’s 25th Legislature created our Prescription Drug Monitoring Program in 2008. The intent of the PDMP is to track the prescribing activities of federally controlled substances in the state. In doing so, it becomes more difficult individuals seeking opioids to obtain multiple prescriptions from different doctors. While an effective tool for human doctors to combat the opioid crisis, Alaska’s veterinarians are also required to participate in the current program. The reason that so many states exempt veterinarians is simply that the PDMP is designed for using human medicine.”
Holland said that PDMPs have been implemented in all 50 states, but 34 states have exempted them from participating in the program:
“The process is ineffective for animal patients. Animals don’t have social security number. They don’t, their name may not be the same as it changes over time. Their date of birth is often not known. As such, veterinarians are required to fall back on the personal identifying information of the human owner to document any opioid prescription. Senate Bill 132 seeks to reduce the costs and burden of running a veterinarian clinic so that Alaskans can have access to treatment for their pets.”
SB 132 states that veterinarians are not trained in nor bound by HIPAA regulations, and veterinarians should not be forced to review personal human medical records as required by the PDMP program.
Senate Bill 132 passed on a 16-0 vote and on the way to the Alaska House of Representatives for consideration.
Transcribed audio courtesy of KTOO 360TV.