Government Relations
4. The number of refills authorized by the prescription. 5. The signature of the minor’ s parent, guardian or authorized adult and date of signing. 6. The prescriber must retain the form in the patient’ s record.
Prescribers, with some exceptions, may not prescribe to minors more than a seven-day supply of a controlled substance containing an opioid. If it is an authorized adult( not parent or guardian) signing the consent form, the prescriber may not prescribe more than a 72-hour supply to the minor.
Prescribers may prescribe to a minor more than a seven-day supply if any of the following apply:
• In the prescriber’ s professional clinical judgment, more than a seven-day supply of a controlled substance containing an opioid is required to stabilize the minor’ s acute medical condition. If this is the case, the prescriber most document the condition and indicate the reason why a non-opioid alternative is not appropriate.
• For management of pain associated with cancer, use in palliative or hospice care, or management of chronic pain not associated with cancer.
Emergency Room and Urgent Care Centers HB 1699, now Act 122, impacts health care providers working in hospital emergency rooms and urgent care centers. Providers may not prescribe more than a seven-day supply of an opioid drug product to patients in the emergency room or urgent care center, or to those in observation status. Observation status is defined as patients who receive onsite services from a hospital for more than 23 consecutive hours and who have not been formally admitted as inpatients.
There is an exemption for providers to issue more than a seven-day supply of an opioid drug product if they believe it is necessary to treat a patient’ s acute medical condition or to treat pain associated with cancer or for palliative care. The provider must document in the patient’ s record why a non-opioid drug alternative was not appropriate to treat a patient’ s medical condition.
Providers may not write a prescription refill for an opioid drug product and must refer patients for treatment if they suspect the patient is at risk for substance use disorders.
Drop Off Locations HB 1737, now Act 123, allows the following to serve as drop-off locations for an extra, unwanted or expired prescription drugs or over-the-counter pharmaceutical products, without having to first register with the state:
• State and local law enforcement agencies.
• Hospitals.
• Assisted living facilities.
• Home health care agencies.
• Long-term care nursing facilities.
• Hospice and domiciliary care homes.
• Pennsylvania licensed pharmacies.
Legislators Pass Resolution Commending Donated Dental Services Milestone
The General Assembly unanimously passed a resolution commending Dental Lifeline Network’ s Pennsylvania Donated Dental Services( DDS) for having reached a landmark milestone of donating $ 15 million in dental services since the program’ s inception in 1996. More than 600 dentists and 100 dental laboratories have volunteered for the DDS program, providing free care to more than 4,600 Pennsylvanians with disabilities or who are elderly or medically fragile with seriously neglected dental problems.
Election Results
After a major election year, legislators returned to the Capitol in Harrisburg in January to begin a new two-year legislative session, which runs from now through November 2018. The legislature reconvened after major victories for PDA in the 2015-2016 session, including the passage of and Governor Wolf’ s signature on Retroactive Review legislation( HB 2241).
The November election resulted in historic majorities for Republicans in the House and Senate. Republican state Senate candidates won three seats previously held by Democrats. The party picked up districts formerly held by Sens. Sean Wiley( D – Erie), John Wozniak( D – Cambria), and Rob Teplitz( D – Dauphin). The districts will now be represented by Dan Laughlin( R – Erie), Wayne Langerholc( R – Cambria), and John DiSanto( R – Dauphin).
The Senate turnover results in the GOP occupying 34 of 50 seats, which represents more than two-thirds and is referred to as a supermajority. According to the state constitution, a two-
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