Florida Senate - 2022                                     SB 544
       
       
        
       By Senator Boyd
       
       
       
       
       
       21-00566A-22                                           2022544__
    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; requiring the Florida Public
    8         Health Institute, Inc., in consultation with the
    9         Department of Health, to educate the public regarding
   10         the use of emergency opioid antagonists; authorizing
   11         pharmacists to order certain emergency opioid
   12         antagonists; providing certain authorized persons
   13         immunity from civil or criminal liability for
   14         administering emergency opioid antagonists under
   15         certain circumstances; authorizing civilian personnel
   16         of law enforcement agencies to administer emergency
   17         opioid antagonists under certain circumstances;
   18         amending s. 395.1041, F.S.; requiring hospital
   19         emergency departments and urgent care centers to
   20         report incidents involving a suspected or actual
   21         overdose to the department under certain
   22         circumstances; providing requirements for the report;
   23         requiring hospital emergency departments and urgent
   24         care centers to use best efforts to report such
   25         incidents to the department within a specified
   26         timeframe; amending s. 401.253, F.S.; requiring,
   27         rather than authorizing, basic life support services
   28         and advanced life support services to report incidents
   29         involving a suspected or actual overdose of a
   30         controlled substance within a specified timeframe;
   31         providing an effective date.
   32          
   33  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   34  
   35         Section 1. Subsections (2), (3), and (4) of section
   36  381.887, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   37         381.887 Emergency treatment for suspected opioid overdose.—
   38         (2)(a) The purpose of this section is to provide for the
   39  prescribing, ordering, and dispensing prescription of emergency
   40  opioid antagonists an emergency opioid antagonist to patients
   41  and caregivers and to encourage the prescribing, ordering, and
   42  dispensing prescription of emergency opioid antagonists by
   43  authorized health care practitioners.
   44         (b)The Florida Public Health Institute, Inc., in
   45  consultation with the Department of Health, shall educate the
   46  public regarding the use of emergency opioid antagonists in
   47  accordance with s. 381.981(2)(r).
   48         (3)(a) An authorized health care practitioner may prescribe
   49  and dispense an emergency opioid antagonist to, and a pharmacist
   50  may order an emergency opioid antagonist with an autoinjection
   51  delivery system or intranasal application delivery system for, a
   52  patient or caregiver for use in accordance with this section.,
   53  and
   54         (b)A pharmacist pharmacists may dispense an emergency
   55  opioid antagonist pursuant to a prescription by an authorized
   56  health care practitioner. A pharmacist may dispense an emergency
   57  opioid antagonist with such a prescription or pursuant to a non
   58  patient-specific standing order for an autoinjection delivery
   59  system or intranasal application delivery system, which must be
   60  appropriately labeled with instructions for use, pursuant to a
   61  pharmacist’s order or pursuant to a nonpatient-specific standing
   62  order.
   63         (c)A such patient or caregiver is authorized to store and
   64  possess approved emergency opioid antagonists and, in an
   65  emergency situation when a physician is not immediately
   66  available, administer the emergency opioid antagonist to a
   67  person believed in good faith to be experiencing an opioid
   68  overdose, regardless of whether that person has a prescription
   69  for an emergency opioid antagonist.
   70         (4) The following persons are authorized to possess, store,
   71  and administer emergency opioid antagonists as clinically
   72  indicated and are immune from any civil liability or criminal
   73  liability as a result of administering an emergency opioid
   74  antagonist:
   75         (a) Emergency responders, including, but not limited to,
   76  law enforcement officers, paramedics, and emergency medical
   77  technicians.
   78         (b) Crime laboratory personnel for the statewide criminal
   79  analysis laboratory system as described in s. 943.32, including,
   80  but not limited to, analysts, evidence intake personnel, and
   81  their supervisors.
   82         (c)Civilian personnel of a law enforcement agency,
   83  including, but not limited to, employees of a sheriff’s office
   84  authorized to provide child protective investigative services
   85  under s. 39.3065 and correctional probation officers who, while
   86  acting within the scope or course of employment, come into
   87  contact with controlled substances or persons at risk of
   88  experiencing an opioid overdose.
   89         Section 2. Subsection (8) is added to section 395.1041,
   90  Florida Statutes, to read:
   91         395.1041 Access to emergency services and care.—
   92         (8) REPORTING OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE OVERDOSES.—A hospital
   93  emergency department or urgent care center that treats and
   94  releases a person in response to a suspected or actual overdose
   95  of a controlled substance must report such incident to the
   96  department if the patient was not transported by a basic life
   97  support service or an advanced life support service as those
   98  terms are defined in s. 401.23. Such reports must be made using
   99  an appropriate method with secure access, including, but not
  100  limited to, the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug
  101  Trafficking Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program or
  102  other program identified by department rule. Hospital emergency
  103  departments and urgent care centers shall use best efforts to
  104  make the report to the department within 120 hours after
  105  discovering an incident.
  106         Section 3. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section
  107  401.253, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
  108         401.253 Reporting of controlled substance overdoses.—
  109         (1)(a) A basic life support service or an advanced life
  110  support service that which treats and releases, or transports to
  111  a medical facility, a person in response to an emergency call
  112  for a suspected or actual overdose of a controlled substance
  113  must may report such incidents to the department. Such reports
  114  must be made using the Emergency Medical Service Tracking and
  115  Reporting System or other appropriate method with secure access,
  116  including, but not limited to, the Washington/Baltimore High
  117  Intensity Drug Trafficking Overdose Detection Mapping
  118  Application Program or other program identified by the
  119  department in rule. If a Basic life support services and service
  120  or advanced life support services service reports such
  121  incidents, it shall use make its best efforts to make the report
  122  to the department within 120 hours after responding it responds
  123  to an the incident.
  124         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.