[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5945 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5945

To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to protect the privacy of 
                      drug prescriber information.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 27, 2006

Mr. Pallone (for himself and Mr. Stark) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to protect the privacy of 
                      drug prescriber information.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Prescription Privacy Protection Act 
of 2006''.

SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF PRIVACY OF DRUG PRESCRIBER INFORMATION.

    (a) In General.--Title XI of the Social Security Act is amended by 
adding at the end the following new section:

                  ``privacy of prescriber information

    ``Sec. 1180.  (a) In General.--A drug manufacturer (as defined for 
purposes of section 1927) may not, directly or indirectly, use 
prescriber identifiable health information for commercial purposes.
    ``(b) Penalty.--Any manufacturer that violates subsection (a) shall 
be fined not more than $50,000, or imprisoned not more than one year, 
or both, for each such violation.
    ``(c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
            ``(1) Commercial purposes.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `commercial purposes' 
                includes advertising, marketing, promotion, or any 
                activity that could be used to influence sales or 
                market share of a pharmaceutical product or to 
                influence or evaluate the prescribing behavior of a 
                prescriber.
                    ``(B) Exclusion.--Such term does not include--
                            ``(i) pharmacy reimbursement;
                            ``(ii) formulary compliance;
                            ``(iii) care management;
                            ``(iv) utilization review by a provider or 
                        supplier, an individual's insurance provider, 
                        or the agent of either; or
                            ``(v) health care research, including 
                        clinical research and health services research.
            ``(2) Prescriber.--The term `prescriber' means a physician 
        or other health care practitioner that is authorized under 
        State law to prescribe a prescription drug or biological.
            ``(3) Prescriber identifiable health information.--The term 
        `prescriber identifiable health information' means health 
        information relating to a prescription drug or biological 
        which--
                    ``(A) identifies the prescriber of the drug or 
                biological; or
                    ``(B) with respect to which there is a reasonable 
                basis to believe that the information can be used to 
                identify such prescriber.
            ``(4) Prescription drug or biological.--The term 
        `prescription drug or biological' means a drug or biological 
        that may be dispensed only upon prescription.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect on a date, specified by the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services, that is not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>