The Florida Senate will vote on its pill mill bill tomorrow and remove the $1.75 million for the state’s drug database Senate President Mike Haridopolos said was mistakenly included in the package.

The chamber spent a lengthy session repeatedly rebuking Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff’s efforts to require law enforcement officials to get search warrants before they can access the database before hurriedly approving an amendment sponsored by Sen. Mike Fasano dealing with “funding for the prescription drug monitoring program.”

Gov. Rick Scott and House Speaker Dean Cannon, who have both reversed their positions on scrapping the prescription drug database, have insisted that no taxpayer funds be used to pay for the program, as current law prohibits.

“First and foremost, I found out after the fact today that that was done. I did not anticipate that. I expect that to be removed tomorrow on third reading,” Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, told reporters later in the day. Haridopolos has been an ardent proponent of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program and has even said he believes the state should foot the bill for it.

“There’s been no bigger proponent of making sure we have this legislation done in the right fashion,” Haridopolos said. “I was told after we got off the floor. As soon as I was made aware of it, I let the governor and the Speaker know that that was an area that we were going to make adjustments on. I think a mistake was made today. When you make a mistake, you fix the mistake.”

With or without the money, the House and Senate plans remain far apart as the clock winds down on the legislative session.

The House plan restricts doctors ability to dispense narcotics, creates stricter permitting requirements for pharmacies and limits the amount of doses of highly addictive pain medications pharmacies can dispense. The Senate proposal instead strengthens penalties against pill mills and rogue doctors .

The Senate plans to take up the House’s measure (HB 7095) tomorrow, strip it out, put its bill on it and send it back to the House.

Senate President Mike Haridopolos is refusing to back down from his insistence that the state’s prescription drug database get up and running despite opposition from Gov. Rick Scott and House Speaker Dean Cannon.

A House committee last week passed a bill repealing the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program lawmakers created two years ago but yet to be implemented. A separate bill would also scrap all of the oversight of the pill mills.

“How do I say this nicely. We have a law on the books. It’s a database. If we choose not to fund it with taxpayer dollars, whatever happens there, we have secured private sector dollars,” Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, said when asked if he supports the House’s elimination of pill mill regulation. I understand how laws are passed and it has to pass both chambers. We are not going to adjust the database. We believe it’s a very good idea. I strongly believe that we have to get a handle on this…We have no interest whatsoever of scrapping that database.”

Haridopolos said he tapped his “good friend” Sen. Mike Fasano, an ardent supporter of the database who sponsored much of the legislation cracking down on pill mills, to negotiate with the House on the issue.

“We’re the pill mill capitol of the world probably. We need to stop it. We have a device that other states have used successfully…I’m very comfortable with where we’re at,” Haridopolos said.

The House Health and Human Services Committee gave a preliminary nod to a measure backed by House Speaker Dean Cannon that would limit physicians’ ability to dispense drugs and scrap current laws regulating pain management clinics.

The measure (PCB HHSC 11-03) would also allow felons to own and operate “pill mills,” a prohibition lawmakers passed two years ago after it was reported that some of the clinics were owned by convicted drug dealers.

The committee is getting ready to pass a second measure (PCB HHSC 11-04) that would repeal the state’s yet-to-be implemented prescription drug database.

Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, has insisted he wants to get the database up and running and is willing to spend the $500,000 a year to operate it although lawmakers barred any state money to fund the program.

Attorney General Pam Bondi applauded an administrative law judge’s ruling today putting the state’s prescription drug database back on track.

“The prescription drug database can be an important part of the fight against pill mills. Hopefully this ruling will end needless delays to the implementation of Florida’s database,” Bondi said in a statement.

Bondi’s continued support for the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program puts her squarely at odds with fellow Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who wants lawmakers to repeal the yet-to-be-implemented system.

Bondi has made prescription drug abuse one of her top priorities and has become the state’s top official fighting the proliferation of pill mills after Scott scrapped the governor’s office of drug control.

Law enforcement officials insist the database will help cut down on “doctor shopping” and reduce the proliferation of narcotics on the street.

UPDATE: Department of Health spokeswoman Michelle Dahnke didn’t reveal much about how the agency will proceed with the database after the judge’s ruling.

“The Department will determine our next steps following a review of the ruling,” she wrote in an e-mail.

An administrative law judge today dismissed a bid protest that kept the state’s controversial drug database from being implemented but the program hailed by law enforcement officials remains in limbo.

In a 71-page order, DOAH Judge Robert Meale ruled that the Department of Health didn’t do anything wrong by awarding the bid to Health Information Designs. Competitor Optimum Technology challenged the bid, saying the department erred in calculating the companies’ proposals.

Under the Health Information Designs contract, the database will cost $887,059 to get up and running. Optimum’s bid – $565,044 – didn’t win because the company scored lower overall. The case is now closed.

The judge’s ruling paves the way for department officials to move forward with the database, but that’s unlikely to happen because Gov. Rick Scott wants lawmakers to repeal the law they passed two years ago creating it – even though they also prohibited the use of any state funds to underwrite it.

(more…)

West Virginia lawmakers are asking Florida Gov. Rick Scott to reconsider doing away with the state’s prescription drug database aimed at curbing doctor-shopping for pain pills.

The Charleston Gazette reported that 13 West Virginia lawmakers sponsored a resolution asking Scott to reverse his plan to get the legislature to repeal the database they created two years ago.

Law Enforcement officials and others, including Senate President Mike Haridopolos, contend the state needs the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, not yet up and running because of a bid dispute, to crack down on prescription drug abuse and the illicit export of prescription drugs into Appalachian states, including Kentucky and West Virginia. Drug users and dealers come to the Sunshine State by the busload to get the meds from pill mills.