House Bill 249 was signed into law by Gov. Nathan Deal on May 4, 2017. To read the passed bill please http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20172018/170657.pdf
This bill transferred the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) from the Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency to the Department of Public Health (DPH).
Under H.B. 249,
A prescriber may delegate their authority check the PDMP to two members of their medical staff.
For a prescriber to delegate this authority to unlicensed or unregistered staff (i.e., an office manager or medical assistant),
the delegated staff member must submit to an annual registration process that will be administered by the Georgia Board of Pharmacy. A health care facility (e.g., hospital or ambulatory surgery center) may select two employees to serve as delegates per shift or rotation. And at hospitals that provide emergency services, each prescriber may designate two individuals who are employed by that hospital per shift or rotation.
Any unauthorized use of PDMP data by a delegate can result in civil or criminal liability for the prescriber. Delegates may only use PDMP data for the purpose of providing medical care or to inform the prescriber of a patient’s potential use, misuse, abuse or underutilization of a prescribed medication.
By January 1, 2018, every prescriber who has a DEA registration number was required to enroll as a PDMP user. If a prescriber obtains a DEA license after January 1, 2018, they must enroll with the PDMP within 30 days.
ARE YOU ENROLLED?
To verify or enroll https://dph.georgia.gov/pdmp
Between January 1, 2018 and May 31, 2018, the DPH must randomly test the PDMP to confirm it is accessible and operational 99.5 percent of the time.
Assuming DPH has certified that the PDMP’s accessibility and operational standards have been met,
The prescriber or their delegate must review the information from the PDMP
when prescribing a controlled substance that is listed in paragraph (1) or (2) of Code Section 16-13-26 (see the code section language that is at the bottom of this fact sheet) or a benzodiazepine beginning July 1, 2018.
This review is limited to the first time the prescriber issues a prescription for the given patient and at least every 90 days thereafter.
Exemptions from the requirement to check the database are as follows…
- Prescriptions for no more than a three-day supply of a covered substance and no more than 26 pills
- The patient is in a hospital or health care facility, including – but not limited to – a nursing home, an intermediate care home, a personal care home, or a hospice program that provides patient care and whereby the prescriptions are to be administered and used by a patient on the premises of the facility
- The patient has had outpatient surgery at a hospital or ambulatory surgical center and the prescription is for no more than a 10-day supply of a covered substance and no more than 40 pills
- The patient is terminally ill or under the supervised care of an outpatient hospice program
- The patient is receiving treatment for cancer
Prescribers or their delegate MUST MAKE
a notation in the patient’s medical record that the PDMP was consulted and identify the individual who conducted the PDMP patient search.
If the PDMP does not allow the prescriber/delegate to gain access to the patient’s information for any reason, the prescriber/delegate should note the time and date and the prescriber/delegate’s name in the patient’s medical record.
Prescribers may now include PDMP prescription information in a patient’s electronic health or medical record.
If a prescriber fails to check the PDMP as outlined above, he or she will be held administratively accountable to the Georgia Medical Composite Board; however, the prescriber may not be held civilly liable or criminally responsible.
When prescribing an opiate, opioid, opioid analgesic, or opioid derivative, the prescriber must provide the patient with information on the drug’s addictive risks and the options that are available for safely disposing of any unused medications. This information may be provided in either verbal or written form.
A health care provider, coroner, or medical examiner must report all incidents of neonatal abstinence syndrome to DPH, which will submit an annual report – including findings and recommendations on how to reduce the number of infants born with neonatal abstinence syndrome – to the president of the Georgia Senate, the speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives, and the chairs of both the Georgia House and Senate Health and Human Services committees.
The Georgia Composite Medical Board has “adopted Rule 360-15-.01(3), which requires physicians (not resident physicians) who maintain an active DEA license and prescribe controlled substances to complete at least three hours of AMA/AOA PRA Category 1 CME that is designed specifically to address controlled substance prescribing practices by your next renewal date. The completion of this requirement may count as three hours toward the physician’s CME license renewal requirement. Note, too, that any controlled substances prescribing guidelines coursework that has been taken since a physician’s license ‘last expired’ will count toward this requirement.”
The Georgia Chapter of the American College of Physicians is offering a free online ‘Safe RX Opioid’ course for physicians (including non-members) that offers “3.5 CME credits and 3.5 MOC points.”
