II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1392 

To require certain practitioners authorized to prescribe controlled substances 

to complete continuing education. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 20, 2015 

Mr. MARKEY 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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CONTINUING EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS FOR 

7 CERTAIN PRACTITIONERS PRESCRIBING 

8 CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES. 

9 Section 303 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 

10 U.S.C. 823) is amended— 


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

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

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

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

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

6 ‘‘(i)(1) In this subsection, the term ‘covered practi7 tioner’ means a practitioner that is not a hospital, phar8 macy, or veterinarian. 

9 ‘‘(2) As a condition of granting or renewing the reg10 istration of a covered practitioner under this part to dis11 pense, or conduct research with, controlled substances in 

12 schedule II, III, IV, or V, the Attorney General shall re13 quire the covered practitioner to complete training 

14 (through classroom situations, seminars at professional 

15 society meetings, electronic communications, or otherwise) 

16 that the Secretary of Health and Human Services deter17 mines meets the requirements under paragraph (3). 

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

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

20 ‘‘(A) best practices for pain management, in21 cluding alternatives to prescribing controlled sub22 stances and other alternative therapies to decrease 

23 the use of opioids; 


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1 ‘‘(B) responsible prescribing of pain medica2 tions, as described in Federal prescriber guidelines 

3 for nonmalignant pain; 

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

5 managing a substance use disorder, including the 

6 use of medications approved by the Food and Drug 

7 Administration and evidence-based nonpharma8 cological therapies; 

9 ‘‘(D) linking patients to evidence-based treat10 ment for substance use disorders; and 

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

12 of controlled substances, including prescription drug 

13 monitoring programs, drug screening, informed con14 sent, overdose education, and the use of opioid over15 dose antagonists. 

16 ‘‘(4) The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Serv17 ices Administration shall establish or support the estab18 lishment of not less than 1 training module that meets 

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

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

21 applying for a registration under this part to dis22 pense, or conduct research with, controlled sub23 stances in schedule II, III, IV, or V; 

24 ‘‘(B) online; and 

25 ‘‘(C) free of charge. 


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

2 shall establish, maintain, and periodically update a pub3 lically available database providing information relating to 

4 training modules that meet the requirements under para5 graph (3). 

6 ‘‘(6) Not later than 5 years after the date of enact7 ment of this subsection, the Secretary of Health and 

8 Human Services shall evaluate and make publically avail9 able a report describing how exposure to the training re10 quired under this subsection has changed prescribing pat11 terns of controlled substances.’’. 

Æ 


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