Bills Aimed at Stemming RI Overdose Deaths Become Law

Two bills supported by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee to address the recent increase in drug overdose deaths in the region have been signed into law, and a third was passed by the Assembly and awaits the governor’s action.

The Health and Human Services Committee, led by Chairman Joshua Miller (D-Dist. 28, Cranston, Providence) promoted the bills to address a crisis of overdose deaths in the region this year.

One of the bills signed into law addresses health insurance coverage for people with opioid substance use disorder and chronic addiction. Sponsored by Sen. Paul V. Jabour (D-Dist. 5, Providence) and Rep. Patricia A. Serpa (D-Dist. 27, West Warwick, Coventry, Warwick), the bill (2014-S 2801Aaa, 2014-H 8042A) would:

• Strengthen parity in coverage of mental health and substance use disorders, in clear language aligned with federal regulation, and require that both methadone treatment services and medications to treat opioid overdoses be included as covered health benefits.
  

Provide patients with substance use disorders with information they need about critical services, when they need it most – when they are being discharged from a hospital. The legislation outlines a process that hospitals can use to make sure that patients with substance use disorders leave with real-time information in hand about community-based facilities and providers that have openings for them. As they leave, patients would also have a follow-up appointment scheduled for them with licensed professionals who understand substance use disorders.

• Extend the safety net to other health care settings that patients with substance use disorders also consult – places like urgent care settings, freestanding clinics and emergency room diversion facilities. This legislation ensures that these settings also receive information about community and health care resources that can be consulted to support patients with substance use disorders.
  

Legislation (2014-S 2523A, 2014-H 7574A) sponsored by Sen. Christopher Scott Ottiano (R-Dist. 11, Portsmouth, Bristol) and Rep. William W. O’Brien (D-Dist. 54, North Providence) to address prescription drug diversion has also become law. The law amends Rhode Island’s electronic prescription drug monitoring program in two ways:

• It allows practitioners and pharmacists – the professionals who are in the best position to stop the flow of misused prescription drugs – to designate individuals who can access information from the database. By allowing these professionals to designate others in their office to access this information, prescribers and pharmacists will have a clearer understanding of their patients’ use of controlled substances. This can help prevent misuse, prevent the misdirection of controlled substances, and alert prescribers and pharmacists about patients who are doctor shopping. Most importantly, it allows these healthcare professionals to help identify those patients who are most at risk of abusing controlled substances, and provide them with the support they need.
  

• It requires that all practitioners register with the prescription drug monitoring database maintained by the Department of Health, as a condition of their ability to prescribe controlled substances. This requirement would ensure that all prescribers know that this resource is available to them and are better able to integrate the database into their practice.
  

Additionally the General Assembly has approved a bill (2014-S 2561, 2014-H 8142) sponsored by Sen. Maryellen Goodwin (D-Dist. 1, Providence) and Rep. Joseph M. McNamara (D-Dist. 19, Warwick, Cranston) that would require the Department of Health to promulgate rules and regulations regarding electronic data transmissions, including faxes, of prescriptions for controlled substances. That bill is now on its way to the governor.

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