STAND. COM. REP. NO 512

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    S.B. No. 810

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 810 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE UNIFORM CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE ACT,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Require practitioners to register to use the electronic prescription accountability system in order to administer, prescribe, or dispense a controlled substance;

 

     (2)  Require all practitioners prescribing or dispensing a controlled substance in schedules II through IV to use the electronic prescription accountability system beginning January 1, 2016;

 

     (3)  Require, beginning January 1, 2017, all practitioners and practitioner delegates to request patient information from the central repository prior to prescribing or dispensing a controlled substance to a new patient and for any patient that is receiving chronic pain therapy;

 

     (4)  Provide pharmacist delegates and practitioner delegates with access to the electronic prescription accountability system; and

 

     (5)  In certain situations, expand access to investigative information in the electronic prescription accountability system to include law enforcement officers and investigative agents of regulatory agencies and various individuals.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, Hawaii College of Emergency Physicians, Walgreen Co., and one individual.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association and eleven individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Medication Association.

 

     Your Committees find that prescription drug monitoring programs have been established in most states to track prescriptions of opioid analgesics, sedatives, and amphetamine-type stimulants.  By improving the utilization of prescription drug monitoring programs, health care providers can improve patient safety and quality of care.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting the definition of "practitioner";

 

     (2)  Clarifying that practitioners administering, prescribing, or dispensing a controlled substance in schedules II through IV shall register with the electronic prescription accountability system with renewal of the controlled substance registration;

 

     (3)  Inserting language to exclude a practitioner or practitioner delegate from the central repository request requirement if the request is for a new patient to whom the practitioner administers, prescribes, or dispenses a supply of seven days or less of a controlled substance in an emergency room or department; and

 

     (4)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 810, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 810, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection,

 

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

 

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair