Title: Safer Prescribing of Controlled Substances Act
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Summary:
Safer Prescribing of Controlled Substances Act  This bill establishes a new registration requirement for a practitioner (other than a hospital, pharmacy, or veterinarian) who is licensed to dispense or conduct research with a controlled substance in schedules II, III, IV, or V of the Controlled Substances Act.
Specifically, the practitioner must comply with a training requirement as a condition of obtaining or renewing their registration. The training must include information on best practices for pain management and responsible prescribing of pain medications.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1448 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1448

  To require certain practitioners authorized to prescribe controlled 
              substances to complete continuing education.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 14, 2019

  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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Safer Prescribing of Controlled 
Substances Act''.

SEC. 2. CONTINUING EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN PRACTITIONERS 
              PRESCRIBING CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES.

    Section 303 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 823) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (f), in the matter preceding paragraph 
        (1), by striking ``The Attorney General shall register'' and 
        inserting ``Subject to subsection (k), the Attorney General 
        shall register'';
            (2) by redesignating subsection (k) as subsection (l); and
            (3) by inserting after subsection (j) the following:
    ``(k)(1) In this subsection, the term `covered practitioner' means 
a practitioner that is not a hospital, pharmacy, or veterinarian.
    ``(2) As a condition of granting or renewing the registration of a 
covered practitioner under this part to dispense, or conduct research 
with, controlled substances in schedule II, III, IV, or V, the Attorney 
General shall require the covered practitioner to complete training 
through accredited continuing prescriber education that the Secretary 
of Health and Human Services determines meets the requirements under 
paragraph (3), unless the covered practitioner meets the conditions 
described in paragraph (6).
    ``(3) The training provided for purposes of paragraph (2) shall, at 
a minimum, expose covered practitioners to--
            ``(A) best practices for pain management, including 
        responsible prescribing of pain medications, alternatives to 
        prescribing controlled substances and other alternative 
        therapies to decrease the use of opioids;
            ``(B) tools to manage adherence and diversion of controlled 
        substances, including prescription drug monitoring programs, 
        drug screening, informed consent, overdose education, and the 
        use of opioid overdose antagonists; and
            ``(C) best practices for substance use disorder treatment, 
        including methods for diagnosing, treating, and managing a 
        substance use disorder, including the use of medications 
        approved by the Food and Drug Administration and evidence-based 
        nonpharmacological therapies, and linking patients to evidence-
        based treatment for substance use disorders.
    ``(4) The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 
shall establish or support the establishment of not less than 1 
training module that meets the requirements under paragraph (3) that is 
provided--
            ``(A) to any covered practitioner registered or applying 
        for a registration under this part to dispense, or conduct 
        research with, controlled substances in schedule II, III, IV, 
        or V;
            ``(B) online; and
            ``(C) free of charge.
    ``(5) The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall establish, 
maintain, and periodically update a publically available database 
providing information relating to training modules that meet the 
requirements under paragraph (3).
    ``(6) A covered practitioner shall be deemed as completing the 
training described in paragraph (2) if the covered practitioner 
completes accredited continuing prescriber education, that--
            ``(A) is required, as a condition of State practice 
        licensure, to fulfill mandated training or education related to 
        best practices in pain management and substance use disorder 
        treatment, that is substantially similar to the requirements 
        described in paragraph (3); or
            ``(B) is required, as a condition of maintaining a board 
        certification recognized by the appropriate board certification 
        organizations for the covered prescriber to fulfill mandated 
        training or education related to best practices in pain 
        management and substance use disorder treatment, that is 
        substantially similar to the requirement described in paragraph 
        (3).
    ``(7) Not later than 5 years after the date of enactment of the 
Safer Prescribing of Controlled Substances Act, the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services shall evaluate, and make publically available a 
report describing, how exposure to the training required under this 
subsection has changed prescribing patterns of controlled 
substances.''.
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