I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3889 

To require certain practitioners authorized to prescribe controlled substances 

to complete continuing education. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 3, 2015 

Ms. CLARKE of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee 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 jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require certain practitioners authorized to prescribe 

controlled substances to complete continuing education. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safer Prescribing of 

5 Controlled Substances Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CONTINUING EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS FOR 

2 CERTAIN PRACTITIONERS PRESCRIBING 

3 CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES. 

4 Section 303 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 

5 U.S.C. 823) is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (f), in the matter preceding 

7 paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘The Attorney General 

8 shall register’’ and inserting ‘‘Subject to subsection 

9 (i), the Attorney General shall register’’; and 

10 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(i)(1) In this subsection, the term ‘covered practi12 tioner’ means a practitioner that is not a hospital, phar13 macy, or veterinarian. 

14 ‘‘(2) As a condition of granting or renewing the reg15 istration of a covered practitioner under this part to dis16 pense, or conduct research with, controlled substances in 

17 schedule II, III, IV, or V, the Attorney General shall re18 quire the covered practitioner to complete training 

19 (through classroom situations, seminars at professional 

20 society meetings, electronic communications, or otherwise) 

21 that the Secretary of Health and Human Services deter22 mines meets the requirements under paragraph (3). 

23 ‘‘(3) The training provided for purposes of paragraph 

24 (2) shall, at a minimum, expose covered practitioners to— 

25 ‘‘(A) best practices for pain management, in26 cluding alternatives to prescribing controlled subVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Nov 04, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3889.IH H3889

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1 stances and other alternative therapies to decrease 

2 the use of opioids; 

3 ‘‘(B) responsible prescribing of pain medica4 tions, as described in Federal prescriber guidelines 

5 for nonmalignant pain; 

6 ‘‘(C) methods for diagnosing, treating, and 

7 managing a substance use disorder, including the 

8 use of medications approved by the Food and Drug 

9 Administration and evidence-based nonpharma10 cological therapies; 

11 ‘‘(D) linking patients to evidence-based treat12 ment for substance use disorders; and 

13 ‘‘(E) tools to manage adherence and diversion 

14 of controlled substances, including prescription drug 

15 monitoring programs, drug screening, informed con16 sent, overdose education, and the use of opioid over17 dose antagonists. 

18 ‘‘(4) The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Serv19 ices Administration shall establish or support the estab20 lishment of not less than 1 training module that meets 

21 the requirements under paragraph (3) that is provided— 

22 ‘‘(A) to any covered practitioner registered or 

23 applying for a registration under this part to dis24 pense, or conduct research with, controlled sub25 stances in schedule II, III, IV, or V; 


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1 ‘‘(B) online; and 

2 ‘‘(C) free of charge. 

3 ‘‘(5) The Secretary of Health and Human Services 

4 shall establish, maintain, and periodically update a pub5 lically available database providing information relating to 

6 training modules that meet the requirements under para7 graph (3). 

8 ‘‘(6) Not later than 5 years after the date of enact9 ment of this subsection, the Secretary of Health and 

10 Human Services shall evaluate and make publically avail11 able a report describing how exposure to the training re12 quired under this subsection has changed prescribing pat13 terns of controlled substances.’’. 

Æ 


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