Safer Prescribing of Controlled Substances Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2734 To require certain practitioners authorized to prescribe controlled substances to complete continuing education. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 14, 2019 Mrs. TRAHAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- diction of the committee concerned A BILL To require certain practitioners authorized to prescribe controlled substances to complete continuing education. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safer Prescribing of 4 Controlled Substances Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 May 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2734.IH H2734 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2734 IH SEC. 2. CONTINUING EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS FOR 1 CERTAIN PRACTITIONERS PRESCRIBING 2 CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES. 3 Section 303 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 4 U.S.C. 823) is amended— 5 (1) in subsection (f), in the matter preceding 6 paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘The Attorney General 7 shall register’’ and inserting ‘‘Subject to subsection 8 (k), the Attorney General shall register’’; 9 (2) by redesignating subsection (k) as sub- 10 section (l); and 11 (3) by inserting after subsection (j) the fol- 12 lowing: 13 ‘‘(k)(1) In this subsection, the term ‘covered practi- 14 tioner’ means a practitioner that is not a hospital, phar- 15 macy, or veterinarian. 16 ‘‘(2) As a condition of granting or renewing the reg- 17 istration of a covered practitioner under this part to dis- 18 pense, or conduct research with, controlled substances in 19 schedule II, III, IV, or V, the Attorney General shall re- 20 quire the covered practitioner to complete training 21 through accredited continuing prescriber education that 22 the Secretary of Health and Human Services determines 23 meets the requirements under paragraph (3), unless the 24 covered practitioner meets the conditions described in 25 paragraph (6). 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 May 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2734.IH H2734 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2734 IH ‘‘(3) The training provided for purposes of paragraph 1 (2) shall, at a minimum, expose covered practitioners to— 2 ‘‘(A) best practices for pain management, in- 3 cluding responsible prescribing of pain medications, 4 alternatives to prescribing controlled substances and 5 other alternative therapies to decrease the use of 6 opioids; 7 ‘‘(B) tools to manage adherence and diversion 8 of controlled substances, including prescription drug 9 monitoring programs, drug screening, informed con- 10 sent, overdose education, and the use of opioid over- 11 dose antagonists; and 12 ‘‘(C) best practices for substance use disorder 13 treatment, including methods for diagnosing, treat- 14 ing, and managing a substance use disorder, includ- 15 ing the use of medications approved by the Food 16 and Drug Administration and evidence-based non- 17 pharmacological therapies, and linking patients to 18 evidence-based treatment for substance use dis- 19 orders. 20 ‘‘(4) The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Serv- 21 ices Administration shall establish or support the estab- 22 lishment of not less than 1 training module that meets 23 the requirements under paragraph (3) that is provided— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 May 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2734.IH H2734 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2734 IH ‘‘(A) to any covered practitioner registered or 1 applying for a registration under this part to dis- 2 pense, or conduct research with, controlled sub- 3 stances in schedule II, III, IV, or V; 4 ‘‘(B) online; and 5 ‘‘(C) free of charge. 6 ‘‘(5) The Secretary of Health and Human Services 7 shall establish, maintain, and periodically update a pub- 8 licly available database providing information relating to 9 training modules that meet the requirements under para- 10 graph (3). 11 ‘‘(6) A covered practitioner shall be deemed as com- 12 pleting the training described in paragraph (2) if the cov- 13 ered practitioner completes accredited continuing pre- 14 scriber education, that— 15 ‘‘(A) is required, as a condition of State prac- 16 tice licensure, to fulfill mandated training or edu- 17 cation related to best practices in pain management 18 and substance use disorder treatment, that is sub- 19 stantially similar to the requirements described in 20 paragraph (3); or 21 ‘‘(B) is required, as a condition of maintaining 22 a board certification recognized by the appropriate 23 board certification organizations for the covered pre- 24 scriber to fulfill mandated training or education re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 May 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2734.IH H2734 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2734 IH lated to best practices in pain management and sub- 1 stance use disorder treatment, that is substantially 2 similar to the requirement described in paragraph 3 (3). 4 ‘‘(7) Not later than 5 years after the date of enact- 5 ment of the Safer Prescribing of Controlled Substances 6 Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 7 evaluate, and make publicly available a report describing, 8 how exposure to the training required under this sub- 9 section has changed prescribing patterns of controlled sub- 10 stances.’’. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 May 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2734.IH H2734 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS