I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2734 

To require certain practitioners authorized to prescribe controlled substances 

to complete continuing education. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 14, 2019 

Mrs. TRAHAN 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 (k), the Attorney General shall register’’; 

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

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

14 ‘‘(k)(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 accredited continuing prescriber education that 

23 the Secretary of Health and Human Services determines 

24 meets the requirements under paragraph (3), unless the 

25 covered practitioner meets the conditions described in 

26 paragraph (6). 


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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 responsible prescribing of pain medications, 

5 alternatives to prescribing controlled substances and 

6 other alternative therapies to decrease the use of 

7 opioids; 

8 ‘‘(B) tools to manage adherence and diversion 

9 of controlled substances, including prescription drug 

10 monitoring programs, drug screening, informed con11 sent, overdose education, and the use of opioid over12 dose antagonists; and 

13 ‘‘(C) best practices for substance use disorder 

14 treatment, including methods for diagnosing, treat15 ing, and managing a substance use disorder, includ16 ing the use of medications approved by the Food 

17 and Drug Administration and evidence-based non18 pharmacological therapies, and linking patients to 

19 evidence-based treatment for substance use dis20 orders. 

21 ‘‘(4) The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Serv22 ices Administration shall establish or support the estab23 lishment of not less than 1 training module that meets 

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


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

2 applying for a registration under this part to dis3 pense, or conduct research with, controlled sub4 stances in schedule II, III, IV, or V; 

5 ‘‘(B) online; and 

6 ‘‘(C) free of charge. 

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

8 shall establish, maintain, and periodically update a pub9 licly available database providing information relating to 

10 training modules that meet the requirements under para11 graph (3). 

12 ‘‘(6) A covered practitioner shall be deemed as com13 pleting the training described in paragraph (2) if the cov14 ered practitioner completes accredited continuing pre15 scriber education, that— 

16 ‘‘(A) is required, as a condition of State prac17 tice licensure, to fulfill mandated training or edu18 cation related to best practices in pain management 

19 and substance use disorder treatment, that is sub20 stantially similar to the requirements described in 

21 paragraph (3); or 

22 ‘‘(B) is required, as a condition of maintaining 

23 a board certification recognized by the appropriate 

24 board certification organizations for the covered pre25 scriber to fulfill mandated training or education reVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 May 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2734.IH H2734

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1 lated to best practices in pain management and sub2 stance use disorder treatment, that is substantially 

3 similar to the requirement described in paragraph 

4 (3). 

5 ‘‘(7) Not later than 5 years after the date of enact6 ment of the Safer Prescribing of Controlled Substances 

7 Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 

8 evaluate, and make publicly available a report describing, 

9 how exposure to the training required under this sub10 section has changed prescribing patterns of controlled sub11 stances.’’. 

Æ 


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