July 18, 2025

U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representative, 

On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I urge you to support H.R. 4132, the Prescription Information Modernization Act (PIMA), which was introduced by Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.) on June 25, 2025. 

PIMA would remove the requirement to transmit prescribing information on paper and allow drug manufacturers to send this information electronically.  According to the Alliance to Modernize Prescribing Information, printing prescription instructions requires an average of 45 pages per drug.  They contain the drug’s chemical makeup and information on how it interacts with other drugs if taken together.  While paper producers develop, print, and distribute these prescription materials through the supply chain, the information regarding the prescriptions quickly becomes outdated and useless.  This same information is also available in electronic form, which is more up to date than the paper versions.

Removing the requirement to transmit the information by paper would also help the environment.  According to the Environmental Paper Network (EPN), de-obligating medication manufacturers from printing prescribing information would prevent the emission of 8.52 billion pounds of CO2 in a single year.  Decreasing the use of paper for this unnecessary printing requirement could save approximately 500,000 tons of paper, or 10.9 million trees per year.

Eliminating the prescription information printing requirement from drug manufacturers will result in better patient outcomes, higher efficiency of medical providers, and reduced harm to the environment.  For these reasons, I again urge you to support the Prescription Information Modernization Act.  All votes related to this legislation may be among those considered for CCAGW’s 2025 Congressional Ratings.

Sincerely,
Tom Schatz
President, CCAGW