Florida Senate - 2015                                     SB 758
       
       
        
       By Senator Evers
       
       
       
       
       
       2-00542A-15                                            2015758__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the prescription and use of opioid
    3         antagonists for emergency treatment of opioid
    4         overdoses; providing a short title; creating s.
    5         381.887, F.S.; defining terms; providing the purposes
    6         of the act; providing for the prescribing of opioid
    7         antagonists to, and the use of them by, patients and
    8         caregivers who have received emergency overdose
    9         treatment information; providing for the prescribing
   10         of opioid antagonists to, and the use of them by,
   11         first responders; providing immunities from liability;
   12         providing applicability; providing an effective date.
   13          
   14  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   15  
   16         Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Florida Opioid
   17  Overdose Prevention Act.”
   18         Section 2. Section 381.887, Florida Statutes, is created to
   19  read:
   20         381.887 Prescription for and dispensing of opioid
   21  antagonists.—
   22         (1)As used in this section, the term:
   23         (a)“Administer” or “administration” means to introduce an
   24  opioid antagonist into the body of a person by using a
   25  formulation approved by the United States Food and Drug
   26  Administration.
   27         (b)“Authorized health care practitioner” means a licensed
   28  practitioner authorized by the laws of this state to prescribe
   29  drugs.
   30         (c)“Caregiver” means a family member, a friend, or any
   31  other person in a position to assist a person at risk of
   32  experiencing an opioid overdose.
   33         (d)“Emergency overdose treatment information” means
   34  information regarding issues that include, but are not limited
   35  to, opioid overdose prevention and recognition, how to perform
   36  rescue breathing, opioid antagonist dosage and administration,
   37  the importance of calling 911 for assistance with an opioid
   38  overdose, and care for an overdose victim after administration
   39  of an opioid antagonist.
   40         (e)“Opioid antagonist” means naloxone hydrochloride or any
   41  similarly acting drug that blocks the effects of opioids that
   42  have been administered from outside the body and that is
   43  approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for
   44  the treatment of an opioid overdose.
   45         (f)“Patient” means a person at risk of experiencing an
   46  opioid overdose.
   47         (2)The purpose of this section is to provide for the
   48  prescription of an opioid antagonist to patients and caregivers
   49  and to encourage the administration of opioid antagonists for
   50  emergency treatment of known or suspected opioid overdoses when
   51  a physician or other authorized health care practitioner is not
   52  immediately available.
   53         (3)An authorized health care practitioner may prescribe an
   54  opioid antagonist for use in accordance with this section to a
   55  patient or caregiver who has received emergency overdose
   56  treatment information. A dispensing health care practitioner or
   57  pharmacist may dispense an opioid antagonist, appropriately
   58  labeled with instructions for use, pursuant to a prescription
   59  which has been issued in the name of a patient or caregiver. In
   60  order to fulfill the requirement that a patient or caregiver
   61  receive emergency overdose treatment information, such
   62  information may be provided to a patient or caregiver by the
   63  prescribing authorized health care practitioner or by an
   64  organization that addresses medical or social issues related to
   65  drug addiction with which the prescribing authorized health care
   66  practitioner maintains a written agreement and which also is
   67  exempt from taxation pursuant to 26 U.S.C. s. 501, a federal,
   68  state, or local governmental entity, or a substance abuse
   69  organization. Such agreement must include procedures for
   70  providing emergency overdose treatment information, instructions
   71  as to how employees or volunteers providing the information will
   72  be trained, and standards for documenting, on behalf of the
   73  prescribing authorized health care practitioner, the provision
   74  of emergency overdose treatment information to patients and
   75  caregivers. The patient or caregiver who has an opioid
   76  antagonist prescription may store and possess an approved opioid
   77  antagonist. In an emergency situation when a physician or other
   78  authorized health care practitioner is not immediately
   79  available, any patient or caregiver who has received emergency
   80  overdose treatment information may administer the opioid
   81  antagonist to a person believed in good faith to be experiencing
   82  an opioid overdose, regardless of whether that person has a
   83  prescription for an opioid antagonist.
   84         (4)An authorized health care practitioner may, directly or
   85  by standing order, prescribe and dispense opioid antagonists to
   86  first responders, including law enforcement officers and
   87  emergency medical technicians, and such first responders may
   88  possess, store, and administer approved opioid antagonists as
   89  prescribed and clinically indicated, and in accordance with the
   90  policies of the employer of such first responders.
   91         (5)Any person, including an authorized health care
   92  practitioner, a dispensing health care practitioner, a
   93  pharmacist, or a first responder, including any law enforcement
   94  officer or emergency medical technician, who possesses,
   95  administers, or stores an approved opioid antagonist in
   96  compliance with this section and with s. 768.13 is afforded the
   97  civil liability immunity protection provided under s. 768.13.
   98         (6)Any authorized health care practitioner, acting in good
   99  faith and exercising reasonable care, is not subject to
  100  discipline or other adverse action under any professional
  101  licensure statute or rule and is immune from any civil or
  102  criminal liability as a result of prescribing an opioid
  103  antagonist in accordance with this section. Any dispensing
  104  healthcare practitioner or pharmacist, acting in good faith and
  105  exercising reasonable care, is not subject to discipline or
  106  other adverse action under any professional licensure statute or
  107  rule and is immune from any civil or criminal liability as a
  108  result of dispensing an opioid antagonist in accordance with
  109  this section.
  110         (7)This section does not limit any existing immunities for
  111  first responders and others provided under any other applicable
  112  statute or rule. This section does not create a duty or standard
  113  of care for a person to prescribe or administer an opioid
  114  antagonist.
  115         Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.