Prescription Drug Abuse Bills Introduced in House

A series of bills aimed at addressing Ohio’s opiate epidemic have been introduced as a result of hearings conducted over the summer by the Ohio House Prescription Drug Addiction and Healthcare Reform Study Committee.

Due to ongoing legislative concerns about physician prescribing practices, the Ohio Osteopathic Association and other physician organizations brought a panel of physicians to the Statehouse, December 10, to help legislators sort out the good proposals from the bad. The OOA also arranged for an interested party meeting so stakeholders could meet with various members of the House who have introduced the legislation.

OOA representatives attending meeting with legislators and attending or testifying in committee, included John F. Ramey, DO; Cleanne Cass, DO; Peter A. Bell, DO; and David D. Goldberg, DO. The OOA representatives will attend an interested party session in the morning with Rep. Robert Sprague and other members of the Study Committee. Dr. Cass provided oral testimony at a legislative subcommittee meeting that afternoon.

Recently introduced legislation include the following, with more expected soon:

• HB 314 Prescriptions for Minors (Baker, N, Kunze, S.) To require a prescriber to obtain written informed consent from a minor’s parent, guardian, or other person responsible for the minor before issuing a controlled substance prescription to the minor and to establish sanctions for a prescriber’s failure to comply with this requirement.
• HB 332 Pain Medication (Wachtmann, L., Antonio, N.) To establish standards and procedures for opioid treatment of chronic, intractable pain resulting from non-cancer conditions and to require that professional disciplinary action be taken for failing to comply with those standards and procedures.
• HB 341 Controlled Substances  (Smith, R.) To prohibit a controlled substance that is a schedule II drug or contains opioids from being prescribed or dispensed without review of patient information in the State Board of Pharmacy’s Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System.
• HB 355 Controlled Substances (Sprague, R.) To require hospice care programs to establish procedures to prevent diversion of controlled substances that contain opioids.
• HB 267 Drug Abuse Prevention  (Driehaus, D., Sprague, R.) To require the health curriculum of each school district to include instruction in prescription opioid abuse prevention.
• HB 369 Medicaid Coverage Addiction Services  (Sprague, R.) To require the Medicaid program and health insurers to cover certain services for recipients with opioid addictions; to establish requirements for boards of alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health services regarding treatment services for opioid addiction to help defray payroll costs associated with a court’s employment of drug court case managers; to provide a state share of the capital costs of recovery jousting projects; and to make appropriations.