Here is a look at Sen. Mark DeSaulnier’s latest bill which introduces legislation to fight prescription drug abuse. I have included the Press Release plus the text of the SB 809.
SB 809 provides balanced, stable funding to modernize and maintain CURES/PDMP. SB 809 takes a shared funding approach by imposing a small 1.16% licensing increase on practitioners and pharmacists, a onetime assessment on health insurance plans and workers compensation insurers, and an annual fee on narcotic drug manufacturers who do business in California.
Here is the official Press Release
DeSaulnier Introduces Legislation Sponsored by California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris to Modernize Program to Fight Prescription Drug Abuse
SB 809 provides funding for Department of Justice’s CURES program
Last week, Senator Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) introduced SB 809. SB 809 is sponsored by Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, and Senate pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg is a joint author of the bill. This legislation will provide the funding needed to not only save, but strengthen and modernize, the Department of Justice’s Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) program and Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) that exists within CURES. CURES allows authorized prescribers and pharmacists to quickly review controlled substance information and patient controlled substance history in an effort to identify and deter drug abuse and diversion through accurate and rapid tracking of Schedule II through IV controlled substances.
“Prescription drug abuse is an epidemic that, frankly, has been swept under the rug for too long,” DeSaulnier said. “People are dying—and something must be done. The CURES program should not only be maintained, it must be strengthened. Families should not have to deal with losing a loved one just because we failed to take action. Mandating prescribers and pharmacists to enroll and use CURES will help deter prescription drug abuse right at the point of care. The funding for these programs is a small price to pay when so many lives are at stake.”
“California had the first prescription drug monitoring system and it should also have the best,” Attorney General Harris said. “This legislation will modernize and strengthen the program and help doctors and law enforcement address the epidemic of prescription drug abuse.”
“Getting the CURES program upgraded and making it durable in the long run is crucial. It will help prescribers and dispensers do their jobs well, and it will support families helping loved ones defeat addiction,” pro Tem Steinberg said.
Prescription narcotic sales quadrupled between 1999 and 2010. With an increased prescribing of narcotics there has been a parallel increase in deaths, now four times what it was in 1999.
Currently funding sources are insufficient to operate and maintain CURES/PDMP and without identifying funds the program will be eliminated July 1, 2013.
Today, there are 12,967 registered users of the web-based CURES/PDMP system. This represents only 6 percent of the 212,631 licensed to prescribe or dispense narcotics. To ensure the program is effective, it is important all prescribers and dispensers enroll and consult the CURES PDMP.
SB 809 mandates that once the CURES PDMP is capable of accommodating all prescribers and pharmacists, they must enroll and use the program. Resources are needed to upgrade the web-based CURES/PDMP system before all users can be accommodated. The goal of SB 809 is to enhance and modernize the PDMP to do the following:
- Streamline the program and system enrollment process.
- Integrate with the major health information systems.
- Provide timely Patient Activity Reports to prescribers and dispensers.
- Provide law enforcement and regulatory boards inquiry and reporting capabilities.
- Provide a method of secure data exchange among PDMP users and the Department of Justice.
- Provide alerts, notices and news items to program participants.
SB 809 provides balanced, stable funding to modernize and maintain CURES/PDMP. SB 809 takes a shared funding approach by imposing a small 1.16% licensing increase on practitioners and pharmacists, a onetime assessment on health insurance plans and workers compensation insurers, and an annual fee on narcotic drug manufacturers who do business in California.
Website of Senator Mark DeSaulnier:http://sd07.senate.ca.gov/
Here is a further look at what this SB 809 would achieve
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST
SB 809, as introduced, DeSaulnier. Controlled substances: reporting.
(1) Existing law classifies certain controlled substances into designated schedules. Existing law requires the Department of Justice to maintain the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) for the electronic monitoring 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.
Existing law requires dispensing pharmacies and clinics to report, on a weekly basis, specified information for each prescription of Schedule II, Schedule III, or Schedule IV controlled substances, to the department, as specified.
This bill would establish the CURES Fund within the State Treasury to receive funds to be allocated, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Department of Justice for the purposes of funding CURES, and would make related findings and declarations.
This bill would require the Medical Board of California, the Dental Board of California, the California State Board of Pharmacy, the Veterinary Medical Board, the Board of Registered Nursing, the Physician Assistant Committee of the Medical Board of California, the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, the State Board of Optometry, and the California Board of Podiatric Medicine to increase the licensure, certification, and renewal fees charged to practitioners under their supervision who are authorized to prescribe or dispense controlled substances, by up to 1.16%, the proceeds of which would be deposited into the CURES Fund for support of CURES, as specified. This bill would also require the California State Board of Pharmacy to increase the licensure, certification, and renewal fees charged to wholesalers, nonresident wholesalers, and veterinary food-animal drug retailers under their supervision by up to 1.16%, the proceeds of which would be deposited into the CURES Fund for support of CURES, as specified.
(2) Existing law permits a licensed health care practitioner, as specified, or a pharmacist to apply to the Department of Justice to obtain approval to access information stored on the Internet regarding the controlled substance history of a patient under his or her care. Existing law also authorizes the Department of Justice to provide the history of controlled substances dispensed to an individual to licensed health care practitioners, pharmacists, or both, providing care or services to the individual.
This bill would require licensed health care practitioners, as specified, and pharmacists to apply to the Department of Justice to obtain approval to access information stored on the Internet regarding the controlled substance history of a patient under his or her care, and, upon the happening of specified events, to access and consult that information prior to prescribing or dispensing Schedule II, Schedule III, or Schedule IV controlled substances.
(3) Existing law imposes various taxes, including taxes on the privilege of engaging in certain activities. The Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, provides procedures for the collection of certain fees and surcharges.
This bill would impose a tax upon qualified manufacturers, as defined, for the privilege of doing business in this state, as specified. This bill would also impose a tax upon specified insurers, as defined, for the privilege of doing business in this state, as specified. The tax would be administered by the State Board of Equalization and would be collected pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Fee Collection Procedures Law. The bill would require the board to deposit all taxes, penalties, and interest collected pursuant to these provisions in the CURES Fund, as provided. Because this bill would expand application of the Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, it would impose a state-mandated local program.
(4) 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.
(5) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
