II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1554 

To require certain practitioners authorized to prescribe controlled substances 

to complete continuing education. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 13, 2017 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. 

MANCHIN, and Ms. WARREN) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 

and Pensions 

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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•S 1554 IS

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 (j), the Attorney General shall register’’; 

10 (2) by redesignating subsection (j) as sub11 section (k); and 

12 (3) by inserting after subsection (i) the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(j)(1) In this subsection, the term ‘covered practi15 tioner’ means a practitioner that is not a hospital, phar16 macy, or veterinarian. 

17 ‘‘(2) As a condition of granting or renewing the reg18 istration of a covered practitioner under this part to dis19 pense, or conduct research with, controlled substances in 

20 schedule II, III, IV, or V, the Attorney General shall re21 quire the covered practitioner to complete training 

22 (through classroom situations, seminars at professional 

23 society meetings, electronic communications, or otherwise) 

24 that the Secretary of Health and Human Services deter25 mines meets the requirements under paragraph (3). 


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

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

3 ‘‘(A) best practices for pain management, in4 cluding alternatives to prescribing controlled sub5 stances and other alternative therapies to decrease 

6 the use of opioids; 

7 ‘‘(B) responsible prescribing of pain medica8 tions, as described in the Centers for Disease Con9 trol and Prevention Guideline for Prescribing 

10 Opioids for Chronic Pain; 

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

12 managing a substance use disorder, including the 

13 use of medications approved by the Food and Drug 

14 Administration and evidence-based nonpharma15 cological therapies; 

16 ‘‘(D) linking patients to evidence-based treat17 ment for substance use disorders; and 

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

19 of controlled substances, including prescription drug 

20 monitoring programs, drug screening, informed con21 sent, overdose education, and the use of opioid over22 dose antagonists. 

23 ‘‘(4) The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Serv24 ices Administration shall establish or support the estabVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Jul 21, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1554.IS S1554

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1 lishment of not less than 1 training module that meets 

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

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

4 applying for a registration under this part to dis5 pense, or conduct research with, controlled sub6 stances in schedule II, III, IV, or V; 

7 ‘‘(B) online; and 

8 ‘‘(C) free of charge. 

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

10 shall establish, maintain, and periodically update a pub11 lically available database providing information relating to 

12 training modules that meet the requirements under para13 graph (3). 

14 ‘‘(6) Not later than 5 years after the date of enact15 ment of the Safer Prescribing of Controlled Substances 

16 Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 

17 evaluate and make publically available a report describing 

18 how exposure to the training required under this sub19 section has changed prescribing patterns of controlled sub20 stances.’’. 

Æ 


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