Safer Prescribing of Controlled Substances Act

“(k) Continuing education requirements for practitioners

“(1) Definition of covered practitioner—In this subsection, the term covered practitioner means a practitioner that is not a hospital, pharmacy, or veterinarian.

“(2) Requirement—As a condition of granting or renewing the registration of a covered practitioner under this part to dispense, or conduct research with, controlled substances in schedule II, III, IV, or V, the Attorney General shall require the covered practitioner to complete training through accredited continuing prescriber education that the Secretary determines meets the requirements under paragraph (3), unless the covered practitioner meets the conditions described in paragraph (6).

“(3) Contents of training—The training provided for purposes of paragraph (2) shall, at a minimum, expose a covered practitioner to—

“(A) best practices for pain management, including—

“(i) responsible prescribing of pain medications;

“(ii) alternatives to prescribing controlled substances; and

“(iii) other alternative therapies to decrease the use of opioids;

“(B) tools to manage adherence and diversion of controlled substances, including—

“(i) prescription drug monitoring programs;

“(ii) drug screening;

“(iii) informed consent;

“(iv) overdose education; and

“(v) the use of opioid overdose antagonists; and

“(C) best practices for substance use disorder treatment, including methods for diagnosing, treating, and managing a substance use disorder, including—

“(i) the use of medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration;

“(ii) the use of evidence-based nonpharmacological therapies; and

“(iii) linking patients to evidence-based treatment for substance use disorders.

“(4) Establishment of training module—The Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Mental Health and Substance Use shall establish or support the establishment of not less than 1 training module that meets the requirements under paragraph (3) that is provided—

“(A) to any covered practitioner registered or applying for a registration under this part to dispense, or conduct research with, controlled substances in schedule II, III, IV, or V;

“(B) online; and

“(C) free of charge.

“(5) Database of training modules—The Secretary shall establish, maintain, and periodically update a publicly available database providing information relating to training modules that meet the requirements under paragraph (3).

“(6) Exception—A covered practitioner shall be deemed as completing the training described in paragraph (2) if the covered practitioner completes accredited continuing prescriber education that—

“(A) is—

“(i) required, as a condition of State practice licensure, to fulfill mandated training or education related to best practices in pain management and substance use disorder treatment; and

“(ii) substantially similar to the training required under paragraph (3); or

“(B) is—

“(i) required, as a condition of maintaining a board certification recognized by the appropriate board certification organizations, to fulfill mandated training or education related to best practices in pain management and substance use disorder treatment; and

“(ii) substantially similar to the training required under paragraph (3).

“(7) Report on prescribing patterns—Not later than 5 years after the date of enactment of the Safer Prescribing of Controlled Substances Act, the Secretary shall evaluate, and make publicly available a report describing, how exposure to the training required under this subsection has changed prescribing patterns of controlled substances.”