Bill Text: WV HB4169 | 2014 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Offer of Emergency Aid Medication to Patients Prescribed Opiates

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-01-14 - To House Health and Human Resources [HB4169 Detail]

Download: West_Virginia-2014-HB4169-Introduced.html

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1                        H. B. 4169

2

3      (By Delegates Staggers, Perry, Pino,

4      Walker, P. Smith, Campbell, Eldridge

5                and L. Phillips)

6      [Introduced January 14, 2014; referred to the

7      Committee on Health and Human Resources then the

8 Judiciary.]

9

10 A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by

11 adding thereto a new article, designated §16-5X-1, §16-5X-2,

12 §16-5X-3 and §16-5X-4, all relating to emergency aid

13 medication for patients prescribed opiates or receiving

14 treatment for addiction; establishing a short title;

15 establishing objectives and a purpose; defining terms;

16 establishing the responsibilities of licensed prescribers;

17 and, providing for education of patient, family or caregivers.

18 Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

19     That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended

20 by adding thereto a new article, designated §16-5X-1, §16-5X-2,

21 §16-5X-3 and §16-5X-4, all to read as follows:

22 ARTICLE 5X. OFFER OF EMERGENCY AID MEDICATION TO PATIENTS

23 PRESCRIBED OPIATES.

24 §16-5X-1. Short title.

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1 This article is known as and may be cited as the “Offer of

2 Emergency Aid Medication to Patients Prescribed Opiates”.

3 §16-5X-2. Definitions.

4 As used in this article:

5 (1) “Opiates” or “opioid drugs” means drugs that are members

6 of the natural and synthetic opium family, including but not

7 limited to, heroin, morphine, codeine, methadone, oxycodone,

8 hydrocodone, fentanyl and hydromorphone.

9 (2) “Prescriber” means an individual currently licensed and

10 authorized by law to prescribe drugs or drug therapy devices, in

11 the course of their professional practice. These include but are

12 not limited to, allopathic and osteopathic physicians, physician

13 assistants or osteopathic physician assistants who hold a

14 certificate to prescribe drugs, advanced nurse practitioners who

15 hold a certificate to prescribe drugs, optometrists, podiatrists,

16 and others as allowed by law.

17     (3) “Naloxone” means naloxone hydrochloride, an opioid

18 antagonist approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for

19 the treatment of an opiate or opioid drug overdose by intranasal

20 administration.

21     (4) “Necessary education and information” means the education

22 and training necessary to enable individuals to prevent, recognize

23 and respond to opiate overdose, and that provides at a minimum

24 training in:

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1 (A) The cause of opiate overdose;

2 (B) How to recognize the symptoms of an opiate overdose;

3 (C) How and when to contact appropriate emergency medical

4 services; and

5 (D) How to administer an opioid antagonist.

6 (4) “Opioid antagonist” means a federal Food and Drug

7 Administration approved drug that, when administered, negates or

8 neutralizes, in whole or in part, the pharmacological effects of an

9 opioid in the body. The opioid antagonist is limited to Naloxone

10 or other medications approved for this purpose.

11 §16-5X-3. Purpose and objectives.

12     (a) The purpose of this article is to prevent deaths in

13 circumstances involving patients who have accidently overdosed on

14 prescribed opioid medications.

15     (b) By offering the drug Naloxone to patients who are

16 prescribed opiates, the medication can be made available to

17 patients, their families or caregivers who are often

18 circumstantially best equipped to serve as first responders, in the

19 event of an accidental overdose.

20     (c) Prescribers may offer a prescription for Naloxone, a drug

21 that reverses the effects of opiate overdose, to patients who are

22 prescribed opiates for chronic pain or as part of a methadone or

23 suboxone treatment program.

24     (d) Prescribers shall make available or provide to patients,

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1 their families, or caregivers, the necessary education and

2 information regarding the proper use of Naloxone.

3 §16-5X-4. Prescriber responsibility.

4 (a) All prescribers in the course of their professional

5 practice may offer to patients, to whom they also prescribe opiates

6 for chronic pain or, patients engaged in methadone or suboxone

7 treatment programs, a prescription for the drug Naloxone.

8 (b) All prescribers who may offer the prescription drug

9 Naloxone to their patients under this section shall make

10 information and educational material on the beneficial and proper

11 use of Naloxone available to patients, their family members, or

12 caregivers. 

13     (c) When a prescription is written to a patient for Naloxone,

14 or a patient enters a methadone or suboxone addiction treatment

15 program, the educational component found in subsection-b of this

16 section is required to be given to the patient, his or her family

17 or caregiver as a condition of obtaining the prescription or

18 entering the addiction treatment program.

19

20     NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to ensure the emergency aid

21 medication Naloxone is made available to patients prescribed

22 opiates, establish responsibilities for licensed prescribers of

23 opiates to follow, and provide for education of patients, their

24 family members or caregivers.

25

26     This article is new; therefore, it has been completely

27 underscored.

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