Legislation Introduced to Require Controlled Substance Providers Complete Continuing Education

On July 15, 2021, Senator Ed Markey introduced S. 2354 – Safer Prescribing of Controlled Substances Act. The bill, cosponsored by Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Mike Braun (R-IN), aims to require certain practitioners authorized to prescribe controlled substances to complete continuing education.

The bill would direct the Department of Justice (DOJ) to include a new requirement when granting or renewing registrations of covered practitioners. Covered practitioners would, as a condition of receiving or renewing registration to dispense or conduct research with controlled substances, need to complete training as outlined by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Under the bill, covered practitioners are all practitioners that are not “a hospital, pharmacy, or veterinarian.”

The training required by DOJ and HHS would need to include the following:

• Best practices for pain management, including responsible prescribing of pain medications and alternatives to prescribing controlled substances
• Alternative therapies to decrease the use of opioids
• Best practices for diagnosing, treating, and managing a substance use disorder, including evidence-based nonpharmacological therapies and linking patients to evidence-based treatment for substance abuse disorders and
• Tools to manage adherence and diversion of controlled substances, including prescription drug monitoring programs, drug screening, informed consent, overdose education, and the use of opioid overdose antagonists.

Practitioners can be considered exempt from the requirement if they complete accredited continuing prescriber education that is required as a condition of their own State licensure that is substantially similar to the training required under the bill. Alternatively, practitioners can be exempt if they are required as a condition of maintaining their board certification to attend mandated training or education related to best practices in pain management and substance use disorder treatment that is substantially similar to the training required under the legislation.

The bill also asks the Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Mental Health and Substance Use to establish (or support the establishment of) at least one free, online training module that meets such requirements that can be provided to any covered practitioner registered, or applying for registration.

Under the legislation, HHS will also need to establish, maintain, and periodically update a publicly available database providing information relating to those free online training modules.

This bill resembles legislation Senator Markey has introduced in the past, and the participation of bipartisan Senators Manchin and Braun highlights the potential importance of this bill.