STAND. COM. REP. NO. 692

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 810

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 810, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

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

 

begs 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 administering, prescribing, or dispensing a controlled substance in schedules II through IV to register with the electronic prescription accountability system with renewal of the controlled substance registration beginning January 1, 2016;

 

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

 

     (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 Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from sixteen individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health, Hawaii Medical Association, Hawaiian Humane Society, Hawaii Island Humane Society, and Walgreen Co.

 

     Your Committee finds 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 Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Adopting the language suggested by the Department of Public Safety that inserts a definition of "practitioner", which excludes veterinarians from the list of persons included as a "practitioner";

 

     (2)  Adopting the language suggested by the Hawaii Medical Association that changes "chronic pain therapy" to "chronic opioid therapy";

 

     (3)  Inserting an effective date of January 7, 2059, to encourage further discussion; and

 

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

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 810, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 810, S.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

 

 

 

________________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair