More Efficient Tools to Realize Information for Consumers Act
Latest action. Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 170.
More Efficient Tools to Realize Information for Consumers Act or the METRIC Act
This bill requires prescription drug manufacturers to report, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to publish, specified information related to prescription drug pricing and the pharmaceutical supply chain. Specifically, HHS must publish reports submitted by drug manufacturers that include the percentage of any wholesale drug price increase that is greater than 10% in one calendar year (or 25% over three consecutive years), an explanation for the price increase, and other data. HHS must enter agreements with other agencies, research organizations, and public and private health insurers to share data submitted to HHS by drug manufacturers about the identity and quantity of drug sample requests by health practitioners.
HHS also must publish online aggregate data reported by pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs), including the percentage of prescriptions provided by mail-order, rate that generic versions of drugs are dispensed, and aggregate discounts, rebates, or price concessions negotiated.
The bill requires the Federal Trade Commission to report about potentially anticompetitive practices by PBMs such as steering patients to certain pharmacies or designing price formulas that increase the market share of higher priced drugs, among other information. The report also must include recommendations to increase transparency and deter anticompetitive behavior.
The bill further requires Medicare prescription drug plan sponsors to implement an electronic, real-time benefit tool that provides prescribers with patient-specific formulary and benefit information. Additionally, the bill expands certain price reporting requirements for prescription drug payments under Medicare.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to House" stage on September 24, 2019. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on September 24, 2019: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 170.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 116th Congress (2019-20), 344 of the 14,345 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
JANICE SCHAKOWSKY (D-IL) introduced it on April 12, 2019, and 8 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 5 Democrats, 3 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on April 12, 2019, 2708 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2543 days ago, on September 24, 2019.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 116th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2021 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers