II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2354 

To require certain practitioners authorized to prescribe controlled substances 

to complete continuing education. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 15, 2021 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. BRAUN, and Mr. MANCHIN) 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 (k), the Attorney General shall register’’; 

5 (2) by redesignating subsection (k) as sub6 section (l); 

7 (3) by inserting after subsection (j) the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(k) CONTINUING EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS FOR

10 PRACTITIONERS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF COVERED PRACTI12 TIONER.—In this subsection, the term ‘covered prac13 titioner’ means a practitioner that is not a hospital, 

14 pharmacy, or veterinarian. 

15 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENT.—As a condition of grant16 ing or renewing the registration of a covered practi17 tioner under this part to dispense, or conduct re18 search with, controlled substances in schedule II, 

19 III, IV, or V, the Attorney General shall require the 

20 covered practitioner to complete training through ac21 credited continuing prescriber education that the 

22 Secretary determines meets the requirements under 

23 paragraph (3), unless the covered practitioner meets 

24 the conditions described in paragraph (6). 


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1 ‘‘(3) CONTENTS OF TRAINING.—The training 

2 provided for purposes of paragraph (2) shall, at a 

3 minimum, expose a covered practitioner to— 

4 ‘‘(A) best practices for pain management, 

5 including— 

6 ‘‘(i) responsible prescribing of pain 

7 medications; 

8 ‘‘(ii) alternatives to prescribing con9 trolled substances; and 

10 ‘‘(iii) other alternative therapies to de11 crease the use of opioids; 

12 ‘‘(B) tools to manage adherence and diver13 sion of controlled substances, including— 

14 ‘‘(i) prescription drug monitoring pro15 grams; 

16 ‘‘(ii) drug screening; 

17 ‘‘(iii) informed consent; 

18 ‘‘(iv) overdose education; and 

19 ‘‘(v) the use of opioid overdose an20 tagonists; and 

21 ‘‘(C) best practices for substance use dis22 order treatment, including methods for diag23 nosing, treating, and managing a substance use 

24 disorder, including— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the use of medications approved 

2 by the Food and Drug Administration; 

3 ‘‘(ii) the use of evidence-based non4 pharmacological therapies; and 

5 ‘‘(iii) linking patients to evidence6 based treatment for substance use dis7 orders. 

8 ‘‘(4) ESTABLISHMENT OF TRAINING MODULE.— 

9 The Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Serv10 ices for Mental Health and Substance Use shall es11 tablish or support the establishment of not less than 

12 1 training module that meets the requirements 

13 under paragraph (3) that is provided— 

14 ‘‘(A) to any covered practitioner registered 

15 or applying for a registration under this part to 

16 dispense, or conduct research with, controlled 

17 substances in schedule II, III, IV, or V; 

18 ‘‘(B) online; and 

19 ‘‘(C) free of charge. 

20 ‘‘(5) DATABASE OF TRAINING MODULES.—The 

21 Secretary shall establish, maintain, and periodically 

22 update a publicly available database providing infor23 mation relating to training modules that meet the 

24 requirements under paragraph (3). 


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1 ‘‘(6) EXCEPTION.—A covered practitioner shall 

2 be deemed as completing the training described in 

3 paragraph (2) if the covered practitioner completes 

4 accredited continuing prescriber education that— 

5 ‘‘(A) is— 

6 ‘‘(i) required, as a condition of State 

7 practice licensure, to fulfill mandated 

8 training or education related to best prac9 tices in pain management and substance 

10 use disorder treatment; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) substantially similar to the train12 ing required under paragraph (3); or 

13 ‘‘(B) is— 

14 ‘‘(i) required, as a condition of main15 taining a board certification recognized by 

16 the appropriate board certification organi17 zations, to fulfill mandated training or 

18 education related to best practices in pain 

19 management and substance use disorder 

20 treatment; and 

21 ‘‘(ii) substantially similar to the train22 ing required under paragraph (3). 

23 ‘‘(7) REPORT ON PRESCRIBING PATTERNS.— 

24 Not later than 5 years after the date of enactment 

25 of the Safer Prescribing of Controlled Substances 


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1 Act, the Secretary shall evaluate, and make publicly 

2 available a report describing, how exposure to the 

3 training required under this subsection has changed 

4 prescribing patterns of controlled substances.’’; and 

5 (4) in subsection (l) (as redesignated), by strik6 ing ‘‘In this section’’ and inserting ‘‘DEFINITION OF

7 FACTORS AS MAY BE RELEVANT TO AND CON8 SISTENT WITH THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFE9 TY.—In this section’’. 

Æ 


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