News
Just as Gov. Rick Scott and his allies prepare to dismantle the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, a judge in Tallahassee on Tuesday cleared the way for the system to start operating.
In a 72-page decision, Administrative Law Judge Robert E. Meale dismissed the bid protest of Optimum Technology Inc., which claimed Department of Health improperly denied it the job of running a program aimed at stemming improper sales of prescription narcotics in Florida.
The program became law in 2009, but it was never started, in part because of two bid protests by Ohio-based Optimum. Scott and House leaders want to kill the monitoring system, while Senate leaders support it. Florida is the largest state without a monitoring system similar to those already operating in 34 states.
If Florida's program goes into effect, it will track prescriptions for controlled substances filled by pharmacists and medical practitioners. It aims to thwart "doctor shopping" by people who go from doctor to doctor, and pharmacy to pharmacy, filling duplicative prescriptions for powerful medications.
Attorney General Pam Bondi hailed the ruling. "The prescription drug database can be an important part of the fight against pill mills,'' her statement said.'
Florida has become a source for people in other states seeking these drugs because they are so easily obtained here. Officials outside Florida have implored the governor and Legislature to start the program quickly.
The battle over who would run the program started when the Department of Health awarded the contract to Health Information Designs Inc. last year. Optimum, filed a bid protest in the fall, saying that the scoring process was unfair.
In his decision Tuesday, the judge wrote that Optimum "did not prove bias, fraud, or collusion and did not prove illogical or irrational scoring" on the part of state evaluators.
Bruce Grant, former director of the Office of Drug Control, which was disbanded by Scott in January, said he hoped the ruling means the program could finally get going. He is not optimistic, however.
The Health Department "probably won't move ahead at 100 miles an hour because they'll have an eye on the governor and the Legislature for the next 60 days to see how the fight over the database turns out," he said.
Michelle Dahnke, a spokeswoman for the Health Department, said the agency "will determine our next steps following a review of the ruling."
Josh Davda, founder and chief executive of Optimum, said he feared the state would be getting "an inferior product at a higher cost."
Still, he said, "We feel the governor of Florida is misguided about wanting to kill this program. We support the PDMP program even if we do not get to help the state."
Meg Laughlin can be reached at mlaughlin@sptimes.com.
Loading...
