Bill > A3519

Introduced Session

This bill requires the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety to establish a process by which a patient may request that the patient's prescription monitoring information include an indication that the patient should not be prescribed opioid drugs or other controlled substances with a significant potential for abuse or addiction. The indication would not be included in the patient's prescription monitoring information except at the patient's request. The division would establish a process for removing the indication that a patient should not be prescribed opioid drugs or other controlled substances with a significant potential for abuse or addiction, at the patient's request. The division would also establish a method, for persons who indicate that they should not be prescribed opioid drugs or other controlled substances with a significant potential for abuse or addiction, to communicate this preference, in the event that the person is incapacitated or otherwise unable to communicate this preference prior to or while receiving health care services. The division would develop an education and outreach program for health care providers concerning this process. It is the sponsor's belief that permitting patients to indicate that they should not be prescribed opiates and certain other controlled substances will facilitate the recovery process, help patients maintain sobriety, help avoid the issuance of prescriptions for drugs that could jeopardize the patient's recovery, and assist health care practitioners to identify patients who are at risk of abusing or diverting prescription medications.

Committee Categories

Herbert Conaway (D)*,  JoAnn Downey (D)*,  Vincent Mazzeo (D)*,  Eric Houghtaling (D), 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee (on 04/04/2016)