Florida Senate - 2022              PROPOSED COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
       Bill No. SB 544
       
       
       
       
       
                               Ì455298WÎ455298                          
       
       576-02109-22                                                    
       Proposed Committee Substitute by the Committee on Appropriations
       (Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services)
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to drug-related overdose prevention;
    3         amending s. 381.887, F.S.; revising the purpose of
    4         specified provisions relating to the prescribing,
    5         ordering, and dispensing of emergency opioid
    6         antagonists to certain persons by authorized health
    7         care practitioners; authorizing pharmacists to order
    8         certain emergency opioid antagonists; providing
    9         certain authorized persons immunity from civil or
   10         criminal liability for administering emergency opioid
   11         antagonists under certain circumstances; authorizing
   12         personnel of law enforcement agencies and other
   13         agencies to administer emergency opioid antagonists
   14         under certain circumstances; amending s. 381.981,
   15         F.S.; revising requirements for a certain health
   16         awareness campaign; amending s. 395.1041, F.S.;
   17         requiring hospital emergency departments and urgent
   18         care centers to report incidents involving a suspected
   19         or actual overdose to the department under certain
   20         circumstances; providing requirements for the reports;
   21         requiring hospital emergency departments and urgent
   22         care centers to use their best efforts to report such
   23         incidents to the Department of Health within a
   24         specified timeframe; providing an effective date.
   25          
   26  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   27  
   28         Section 1. Subsections (2), (3), and (4) of section
   29  381.887, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   30         381.887 Emergency treatment for suspected opioid overdose.—
   31         (2) The purpose of this section is to provide for the
   32  prescribing, ordering, and dispensing prescription of emergency
   33  opioid antagonists an emergency opioid antagonist to patients
   34  and caregivers and to encourage the prescribing, ordering, and
   35  dispensing prescription of emergency opioid antagonists by
   36  authorized health care practitioners.
   37         (3)(a) An authorized health care practitioner may prescribe
   38  and dispense an emergency opioid antagonist to, and a pharmacist
   39  may order an emergency opioid antagonist with an autoinjection
   40  delivery system or intranasal application delivery system for, a
   41  patient or caregiver for use in accordance with this section.,
   42  and
   43         (b)A pharmacist pharmacists may dispense an emergency
   44  opioid antagonist pursuant to a prescription by an authorized
   45  health care practitioner. A pharmacist may dispense an emergency
   46  opioid antagonist with such a prescription or pursuant to a non
   47  patient-specific standing order for an autoinjection delivery
   48  system or intranasal application delivery system, which must be
   49  appropriately labeled with instructions for use, pursuant to a
   50  pharmacist’s order or pursuant to a nonpatient-specific standing
   51  order.
   52         (c)A such patient or caregiver is authorized to store and
   53  possess approved emergency opioid antagonists and, in an
   54  emergency situation when a physician is not immediately
   55  available, administer the emergency opioid antagonist to a
   56  person believed in good faith to be experiencing an opioid
   57  overdose, regardless of whether that person has a prescription
   58  for an emergency opioid antagonist.
   59         (4) The following persons are authorized to possess, store,
   60  and administer emergency opioid antagonists as clinically
   61  indicated and are immune from any civil liability or criminal
   62  liability as a result of administering an emergency opioid
   63  antagonist:
   64         (a) Emergency responders, including, but not limited to,
   65  law enforcement officers, paramedics, and emergency medical
   66  technicians.
   67         (b) Crime laboratory personnel for the statewide criminal
   68  analysis laboratory system as described in s. 943.32, including,
   69  but not limited to, analysts, evidence intake personnel, and
   70  their supervisors.
   71         (c)Personnel of a law enforcement agency or other agency,
   72  including, but not limited to, correctional probation officers
   73  and child protective investigators who, while acting within the
   74  scope or course of employment, come into contact with a
   75  controlled substance or persons at risk of experiencing an
   76  opioid overdose.
   77         Section 2. Paragraph (r) of subsection (2) of section
   78  381.981, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   79         381.981 Health awareness campaigns.—
   80         (2) The awareness campaigns shall include the provision of
   81  educational information about preventing, detecting, treating,
   82  and curing the following diseases or conditions. Additional
   83  diseases and conditions that impact the public health may be
   84  added by the board of directors of the Florida Public Health
   85  Institute, Inc.; however, each of the following diseases or
   86  conditions must be included in an awareness campaign during at
   87  least 1 month in any 24-month period:
   88         (r) Substance abuse, including, but not limited to,
   89  emergency opioid antagonists.
   90         Section 3. Subsection (8) is added to section 395.1041,
   91  Florida Statutes, to read:
   92         395.1041 Access to emergency services and care.—
   93         (8) REPORTING OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE OVERDOSES.—A hospital
   94  emergency department or an urgent care center that treats and
   95  releases a person in response to a suspected or actual overdose
   96  of a controlled substance must report such incident to the
   97  department if the patient was not transported by a transport
   98  service operating pursuant to part III of chapter 401. Such
   99  reports must be made using an appropriate method with secure
  100  access, including, but not limited to, the Washington/Baltimore
  101  High Intensity Drug Trafficking Overdose Detection Mapping
  102  Application Program, the Florida Prehospital EMS Tracking and
  103  Reporting System (EMSTARS), or another program identified by
  104  department rule. If a hospital emergency department or an urgent
  105  care center reports such an incident, it must use its best
  106  efforts to make the report to the department within 120 hours
  107  after becoming aware of the incident.
  108         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.