2018 Opioid Legislation Affecting Physicians in Florida
As you may be aware, on March 19, 2018, Gov. Rick Scott signed bill HB 21 into law which includes a variety of measures to combat the Opioid crisis in our communities.
Among many other things in this bill, there are two items of interest for our members:
- As of July 1, 2018, FGS members must consult E-Force before prescribing ANY controlled substance, and they may only prescribe up to 7 days of a post-surgical Schedule II opiate (and then only if they write “Acute Pain Exception” on the prescription).
- The bill states that each person registered with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and authorized to prescribe controlled substances shall be required to complete a board-approved two-hour continuing education (CE) course on prescribing controlled substances. The completion deadline for this course is January 31, 2019.
At this time, the FGS is still working diligently to create opportunities for its members to fulfill this training requirement but because of its novelty and sensitive nature, the process is slow-moving.
In the meantime, the Florida Medical Association has recently launched an online course to fulfill this requirement.
For more information about this course please visit the FMA website or call their office at 850-224-6496.