Bill > S921

This bill, known as Tyler's Law, directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a comprehensive study within three years of enactment to investigate the current practices, costs, benefits, risks, training needs, patient privacy implications, and barriers related to testing for fentanyl and other controlled substances in hospital emergency departments for patients experiencing overdoses. Following this study, the Secretary, through the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, will issue guidance within nine months of the study's completion. This guidance will address whether fentanyl testing should become a routine procedure in emergency departments for overdose patients, how healthcare professionals can be informed about the substances their routine drug tests screen for, the potential impact of fentanyl testing on future overdose risk and health outcomes, and available federal resources to support such testing. A hospital emergency department is defined to include both hospital-based and independent freestanding emergency departments.