CS/CS/CS/CS/SB 462--Prescription drugs.

This bill requires the Department of Health (DOH), by December 1, 2010, to design and establish a comprehensive electronic database system to monitor the prescribing and dispensing of certain controlled substances. The bill requires prescribers and dispensers of certain controlled substances to report specified information to DOH within 15 days, and requires DOH to store the information in a state database. The bill provides exemptions from the data reporting requirements for controlled substances that are administered, dispensed, or ordered in specified settings or for specified categories of patients. Data regarding the dispensing of each controlled substance must be submitted to DOH, by a procedure and in a format established by DOH, and must include minimum information specified in the bill. Any person who knowingly fails to report the dispensing of a controlled substance commits a first-degree misdemeanor. Prescribers and dispensers may have access to the database information to review patient medication history. DOH and regulatory boards, the Attorney General, law enforcement agencies, and patients and their guardians or surrogates may have access to the database information, or certain types of the database information, under specified circumstances. Further, this legislation provides immunity from liability for prescribers and dispensers who in good faith receive and use information from the prescription drug monitoring program. A person may not recover damages against a prescriber or dispenser authorized to access information under the drug monitoring program for accessing or failing to access such information. The bill requires each physician who practices in a privately owned pain management facility that primarily engages in the treatment of pain by prescribing controlled substances to register the facility with DOH, unless it is a Florida-licensed hospital, ambulatory surgical center, or mobile surgical facility. The Office of Drug Control (Office), in coordination with DOH, is authorized to establish a direct support organization (DSO) to provide assistance, funding, and promotional support for the prescription drug monitoring program. The bill creates a 12-member Program Implementation and Oversight Task Force within the Executive Office of the Governor to monitor the implementation and safeguarding of the electronic system established for the prescription drug monitoring program. The bill requires all costs incurred by the DOH for the program to be funded through federal grants or private funding. Subject to the Governor's veto powers, the effective date of this bill is July 1, 2009.