HB 2559

Bill Subjects

Abstract

Provides certain exceptions, effective July 1, 2020, to the requirement that any prescription for a controlled substance that contains an opioid be issued as an electronic prescription. The bill requires the licensing health regulatory board of a prescriber to grant such prescriber a waiver of the electronic prescription requirement for a period not to exceed one year due to demonstrated economic hardship, technological limitations that are not reasonably within the control of the prescriber, or other exceptional circumstances demonstrated by the prescriber. The bill provides that a dispenser is not required to verify whether one of the exceptions applies when he receives a non-electronic prescription for a controlled substance containing an opioid. The bill requires the Boards of Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, and Optometry to promulgate regulations to implement the prescriber waivers. Finally, the bill requires the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to convene a work group to identify successes and challenges of the electronic prescription requirement and offer possible recommendations for increasing the electronic prescribing of controlled substances that contain an opioid and to report to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by November 1, 2022.