Bill Text: CA AB2548 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: CURES: Prescription Drug Monitoring Program.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-05-28 - In committee: Set, second hearing. Held under submission. [AB2548 Detail]
Download: California-2009-AB2548-Introduced.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2548 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Block
FEBRUARY 19, 2010
An act to amend Sections 11165 and 11165.1 of, and to add Sections
11165.2 and 11165.3 to, the Health and Safety Code, relating to
controlled substances.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2548, as introduced, Block. CURES: Prescription Drug Monitoring
Program.
Existing law, the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, provides for
the electronic monitoring and reporting of the prescribing and
dispensing of Schedule II, Schedule III, and Schedule IV controlled
substances pursuant to the Controlled Substance Utilization Review
and Evaluation System (CURES) program. The act further provides that
in order to prevent the inappropriate, improper, or illegal use of
Schedule II, Schedule III, or Schedule IV controlled substances, the
Department of Justice may initiate the referral of the history of
controlled substances dispensed to an individual based on data
contained in CURES to licensed health care practitioners,
pharmacists, or both, providing care or services to the individual. A
violation of any of these provisions is a misdemeanor, punishable as
specified.
This bill would establish the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program
(PDMP) in state government under the Department of Justice to
monitor any practitioner or pharmacist (PDMP subscriber) who has
obtained approval, as specified, to access, using the Internet, the
electronic history of controlled substances dispensed to an
individual under his or her care based on data contained in CURES, as
well as the number, amount, and type of controlled substances being
dispensed to an individual under his or her care, in order to control
the diversion and resultant abuse of, and to ensure the safe and
lawful dispensing of, Schedule II, Schedule III, and Schedule IV
controlled substances. This bill would provide that the Department of
Justice may establish, by regulation, a system for the issuance to a
PDMP subscriber of a citation which may contain an order of
abatement or an order to pay an administrative fine assessed by the
department, if the subscriber is in violation of any provision of, or
any regulation adopted by the department pursuant to, the Uniform
Controlled Substances Act. This bill would further provide that the
theft or loss of prescription information or prescription forms shall
be reported, as specified, no later than 3 days after the discovery
of the theft or loss. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose
a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 11165 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
11165. (a) To assist law enforcement and regulatory agencies in
their efforts to control the diversion and resultant abuse of
Schedule II, Schedule III, and Schedule IV controlled substances, and
for statistical analysis, education, and research, the Department of
Justice shall, contingent upon the availability of adequate funds
from the Contingent Fund of the Medical Board of California, the
Pharmacy Board Contingent Fund, the State Dentistry Fund, the Board
of Registered Nursing Fund, and the Osteopathic Medical Board of
California Contingent Fund, maintain the Controlled Substance
Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) for the electronic
monitoring and Internet accessing of the prescribing and
dispensing of Schedule II, Schedule III, and Schedule IV controlled
substances by all practitioners authorized to prescribe or dispense
these controlled substances.
(b) The reporting of Schedule III and Schedule IV controlled
substance prescriptions to CURES shall be contingent upon the
availability of adequate funds from the Department of Justice. The
Department of Justice may seek and use grant funds to pay the costs
incurred from the reporting of controlled substance prescriptions to
CURES. Funds shall not be appropriated from the Contingent Fund of
the Medical Board of California, the Pharmacy Board Contingent Fund,
the State Dentistry Fund, the Board of Registered Nursing Fund, the
Naturopathic Doctor's Fund, or the Osteopathic Medical Board of
California Contingent Fund to pay the costs of reporting Schedule III
and Schedule IV controlled substance prescriptions to CURES.
(c) CURES shall operate under existing provisions of law to
safeguard the privacy and confidentiality of patients. Data obtained
from CURES shall only be provided to appropriate state, local, and
federal persons or public agencies for disciplinary, civil, or
criminal purposes and to other agencies or entities, as determined by
the Department of Justice, for the purpose of educating
practitioners and others in lieu of disciplinary, civil, or criminal
actions. Data may be provided to public or private entities, as
approved by the Department of Justice, for educational, peer review,
statistical, or research purposes, provided that patient information,
including any information that may identify the patient, is not
compromised. Further, data disclosed to any individual or agency as
described in this subdivision shall not be disclosed, sold, or
transferred to any third party.
(d) For each prescription for a Schedule II, Schedule III, or
Schedule IV controlled substance, the dispensing pharmacy or clinic
shall provide the following information to the Department of Justice
on a weekly basis and in a format specified by the Department of
Justice:
(1) Full name, address, and the telephone number of the ultimate
user or research subject, or contact information as determined by the
Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human
Services, and the gender, and date of birth of the ultimate user.
(2) The prescriber's category of licensure and license number;
federal controlled substance registration number; and the state
medical license number of any prescriber using the federal controlled
substance registration number of a government-exempt facility.
(3) Pharmacy prescription number, license number, and federal
controlled substance registration number.
(4) NDC (National Drug Code) number of the controlled substance
dispensed.
(5) Quantity of the controlled substance dispensed.
(6) ICD-9 (diagnosis code), if available.
(7) Number of refills ordered.
(8) Whether the drug was dispensed as a refill of a prescription
or as a first-time request.
(9) Date of origin of the prescription.
(10) Date of dispensing of the prescription.
(e) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2005.
SEC. 2. Section 11165.1 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
11165.1. (a) (1) A licensed health care practitioner eligible to
prescribe Schedule II, Schedule III, or Schedule IV controlled
substances or a pharmacist may make a written request for
manually or electronically submit to the Department of
Justice a notarized application developed by the department to
obtain approval to access, using the Internet, the electronic history
of controlled substances dispensed to an individual under his or her
care based on data contained in CURES , and the Department of
Justice may , upon approval of the application,
release to that practitioner or pharmacist, the electronic
history of controlled substances dispensed to an individual
under his or her care based on data contained in CURES.
(2) Any request for, or release of, a controlled substance history
pursuant to this section shall be made in accordance with guidelines
developed by the Department of Justice.
(3) An application by a practitioner or pharmacist may be denied,
or access authorized pursuant to this section for a practitioner or
pharmacist may be suspended, for cause, including, but not limited
to, the following:
(A) Materially falsifying an application.
(B) Failure to maintain effective controls for access to the
patient activity report.
(C) The suspension or revocation of a Drug Enforcement Agency
registration.
(D) An arrest or conviction for any controlled substance offense
or violation of this section.
(E) Accessing information pursuant to this section for any reason
not related to the care of a patient.
(4) Any practitioner or pharmacist authorized pursuant to this
section to access a patient's history of dispensed controlled
substances shall notify the department within 10 days of any change
of pertinent information regarding the practitioner or pharmacist.
(b) In order to prevent the inappropriate, improper, or illegal
use of Schedule II, Schedule III, or Schedule IV controlled
substances, the Department of Justice may initiate the referral of
the history of controlled substances dispensed to an individual based
on data contained in CURES to licensed health care practitioners,
pharmacists, or both, providing care or services to the individual.
(c)
(b) The history of controlled substances dispensed to
an individual based on data contained in CURES that is received by a
practitioner or pharmacist from the Department of Justice pursuant to
this section shall be considered medical information subject to the
provisions of the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act
contained in Part 2.6 (commencing with Section 56) of Division 1 of
the Civil Code.
SEC. 3. Section 11165.2 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
11165.2. (a) This section may be cited and known as the
Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP).
(b) The PDMP shall be established in state government under the
Department of Justice to monitor any practitioner or pharmacist who
has obtained approval under Section 11165.1 to access, using the
Internet, the electronic history of controlled substances dispensed
to an individual under his or her care based on data contained in
CURES, as well as the number, amount, and type of controlled
substances being dispensed to an individual under his or her care, in
order to control the diversion and resultant abuse of, and to ensure
the safe and lawful dispensing of, Schedule II, Schedule III, and
Schedule IV controlled substances. For the purposes of this section,
a "PDMP subscriber" means a practitioner or pharmacist who has
obtained approval under Section 11165.1 to access, using the
Internet, the electronic history of controlled substances dispensed
to an individual under his or her care based on data contained in
CURES.
(c) The Department of Justice may establish, by regulation, a
system for the issuance to a PDMP subscriber of a citation which may
contain an order of abatement or an order to pay an administrative
fine assessed by the department, if the subscriber is in violation of
any provision of this chapter or any regulation adopted by the
department pursuant to this chapter.
(d) A citation system shall contain the following provisions:
(1) Citations shall be in writing and shall describe with
particularity the nature of the violation, including specific
reference to the provision of law or regulation of the department
determined to have been violated.
(2) Whenever appropriate, the citation shall contain an order of
abatement fixing a reasonable time for abatement of the violation.
(3) In no event shall the administrative fine assessed by the
department exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) for each
violation. In assessing a fine, due consideration shall be given to
the appropriateness of the amount of the fine with respect to such
factors as the gravity of the violation, the good faith of the
subscriber, and the history of previous violations.
(4) An order of abatement or a fine assessment issued pursuant to
a citation shall inform the subscriber that if the subscriber desires
a hearing to contest the finding of a violation, that hearing shall
be requested by written notice to the CURES program of the Department
of Justice within 30 days of the date of issuance of the citation or
assessment. Hearings shall be held pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing
with Section 11500) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the
Government Code.
(5) In addition to requesting a hearing, the subscriber may,
within 10 days after service of the citation, request in writing an
opportunity for an informal conference with the department regarding
the citation. At the conclusion of the informal conference, the
department may affirm, modify, or dismiss the citation, including any
fine levied or order of abatement issued. The decision shall be
deemed to be a final order with regard to the citation issued,
including the fine levied and the order of abatement. However, the
subscriber does not waive its right to request a hearing to contest a
citation by requesting an informal conference. If the citation is
dismissed after the informal conference, the request for a hearing on
the matter of the citation shall be deemed to be withdrawn. If the
citation, including any fine levied or order of abatement, is
modified, the citation originally issued shall be considered
withdrawn and a new citation issued. If a hearing is requested for a
subsequent citation, it shall be requested within 30 days of service
of that subsequent citation.
(6) Failure of a subscriber to pay a fine within 30 days of the
date of assessment or comply with an order of abatement within the
fixed time, unless the citation is being appealed, may result in
disciplinary action being taken by the department. If a citation is
not contested and a fine is not paid, the subscriber account shall be
terminated.
(7) A citation may be issued without the assessment of an
administrative fine.
(8) Assessment of administrative fines may be limited to only
particular violations of the law or department regulations.
(9) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if a fine is paid
to satisfy an assessment based on the finding of a violation, payment
of the fine shall be represented as satisfactory resolution of the
matter for purposes of public disclosure.
(e) Administrative fines collected pursuant to this section shall
be deposited in a fund under the Department of Justice relating to
CURES. These special funds shall be utilized to provide support for
costs associated with informal and formal hearings under, maintenance
of, and updates to CURES.
(f) The sanctions authorized under this section shall be separate
from, and in addition to, any other administrative, civil, or
criminal remedies; however, a criminal action shall not be initiated
for a specific offense if a citation has been issued pursuant to this
section for that offense, and a citation may not be issued pursuant
to this section for a specific offense if a criminal action for that
offense has been filed.
SEC. 4. Section 11165.3 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
11165.3. (a) A PDMP subscriber, as defined in Section 11165.2,
shall manually or electronically report any theft or loss of
prescription information or prescription forms to the CURES program
no later than three days after the discovery of the theft or loss.
(b) The notification may be, reported electronically or in writing
utilizing a form approved by the Department of Justice.
SEC. 5. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.
