PRINTER'S NO. 311
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No.
301
Session of
2017
INTRODUCED BY EICHELBERGER, GREENLEAF, BREWSTER, WARD,
HUTCHINSON, RAFFERTY, WHITE, SCAVELLO AND VULAKOVICH,
FEBRUARY 14, 2017
REFERRED TO HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, FEBRUARY 14, 2017
AN ACT
Amending the act of April 14, 1972 (P.L.221, No.63), entitled,
as amended, "An act establishing the Pennsylvania Advisory
Council on Drug and Alcohol Abuse; imposing duties on the
Department of Health to develop and coordinate the
implementation of a comprehensive health, education and
rehabilitation program for the prevention and treatment of
drug and alcohol abuse and drug and alcohol dependence;
providing for emergency medical treatment; providing for
treatment and rehabilitation alternatives to the criminal
process for drug and alcohol dependence; and making repeals,"
further providing for definitions; and providing for specific
powers and duties with regard to opioid addiction treatment.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. The definition of "council" in section 2(b) of
the act of April 14, 1972 (P.L.221, No.63), known as the
Pennsylvania Drug and Alcohol Abuse Control Act, is amended and
the subsection is amended by adding definitions to read:
Section 2. Definitions:
* * *
(b) As used in this act:
"Bureau" means the Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Programs in the
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Department of Health or any successor entity that becomes
responsible for narcotic and opioid treatment programs.
* * *
"Council" means the Pennsylvania Advisory Council on Drug and
Alcohol Abuse established by this act and transferred to the
Department of Health by Reorganization Plan No. 4 on April 21,
1981.
* * *
"Division" means the Division of Drug and Alcohol Program
Licensure within the Department of Health or any successor
entity that becomes responsible for licensing drug or alcohol
programs.
* * *
"Methadone" means a synthetic opioid agonist that binds with
opioid receptors in the brain to initiate drug actions that
mimic the effects of opiates.
* * *
"Narcotic treatment program" means a program for chronic drug
users that either administers or dispenses agents under a
narcotic treatment physician's order for detoxification or
maintenance purposes, or provides a comprehensive range of
medical and rehabilitative services to alleviate adverse
medical, psychological or physical effects incident to an
addiction to narcotics, or both.
"Opioid addiction treatment" means a narcotic treatment
program that involves the dispensing of an opioid agonist or
antagonist treatment medication, along with appropriate or
necessary medical and rehabilitative services to an individual
to alleviate the adverse medical, psychological or physical
effects incident to opiate addiction. This term encompasses
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detoxification treatment, short-term detoxification treatment,
long-term detoxification treatment, maintenance treatment,
comprehensive maintenance treatment and interim maintenance
treatment.
* * *
Section 2. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 4.1. Specific Powers and Duties with Regard to
Opioid Addiction Treatment.--The department, in conjunction with
the bureau and council, shall develop and adopt uniform State
standards for providers of opioid addiction treatment designed
to ensure the safety of both the patient and the general public
in connection with the utilization of opioid agonists such as
methadone. At a minimum, the standards shall be evidence-based
to the extent possible and shall:
(1) Require a clinic providing opioid addiction treatment to
be open seven days per week, three hundred sixty-five days per
year to limit take-home dosages or to otherwise provide such
provider accessibility to its patients.
(2) Require a clinic providing opioid addiction treatment to
provide information on antidotes such as Narcan used to counter
the effects of opioid overdose to a patient starting methadone
treatment and to provide an antidote if requested by the patient
or otherwise deemed medically appropriate.
(3) Require a clinic providing opioid addiction treatment to
test its patients for usage of benzodiazepines at intake and
regularly on a random basis.
(4) Require a clinic providing opioid addiction treatment to
obtain a signed waiver or authorization before providing
methadone to a patient who is using benzodiazepines from the
psychiatrist or physician who has prescribed benzodiazepine
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treatment for that patient.
(5) Prohibit permission to a new patient to take methadone
home for the first six months of treatment.
(6) Develop protocols with regard to the usage of tests
concerning serum methadone levels and electrocardial activity
with regard to determination of proper patient dosage levels.
(7) Require reporting to local law enforcement of all known
methadone-related deaths.
(8) Require development and usage of treatment plans and
protocols for patients that are designed to achieve drug
abstinence.
(9) Require a methadone clinic or provider who prescribes
methadone to immediately revoke any take-home permissions upon
learning of arrest or conviction of a patient for driving under
the influence.
(10) Prohibit a methadone clinic or provider from
prescribing an initial dose of methadone, unless the patient has
made arrangements for a designated driver, and require
development of protocols to assess the potential driving
impairment of a patient receiving an increase in methadone
dosage.
(11) Require random, regular testing for any and all legal
or illegal substances that, in combination with methadone, would
increase the probability of impaired driving or otherwise
present a risk to the safety of the public or the patient.
Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
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