Bill > HB1741

This bill allows the Tennessee Department of Correction to create and update a list of approved prescription drugs, called a formulary, for use in state correctional facilities. The formulary will guide which medications are available to treat pain for incarcerated individuals. Importantly, when deciding which pain medications to include, the department must ensure that non-opioid medications, which are drugs that relieve pain without affecting the body's opioid receptors and have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), are not treated less favorably than opioid or narcotic drugs. This provision applies to FDA-approved non-opioid pain medications even before the department officially reviews them for the formulary, and it also covers medications provided through contracts with healthcare vendors within correctional facilities. The bill takes effect on January 1, 2027.