BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 679
Page 1
(Without Reference to File)
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
679 (Travis Allen)
As Amended September 10, 2015
2/3 vote. Urgency
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|ASSEMBLY: | |(June 1, 2015) |SENATE: | |(September 11, |
| |52-14 | | | |2015) |
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| | | | | | |
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(vote not available)
Original Committee Reference: L. GOV
SUMMARY: Extends the date by which specified health care
practitioners and pharmacists must register with the Controlled
Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES)
Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) by six months, from
January 1, 2016 to July 1, 2016.
The Senate amendments:
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1) Requires that a healthcare practitioner authorized to
prescribe, order, administer, furnish, or dispense Schedule
II, Schedule III, or Schedule IV controlled substances submit
an application to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to obtain
approval to access CURES before July 1, 2016 or upon receipt
of a federal Drug Enforcement Agency registration, whichever
occurs later.
2) Requires a pharmacist to submit an application to the DOJ to
obtain approval to access to CURES before July 1, 2016 or
upon licensure, whichever occurs later.
3) Contains an urgency clause, stating that its immediate effect
is necessary to ensure that health care practitioners and
pharmacists are not out of compliance with the requirement to
apply to access data contained in the CURES PDMP on January
1, 2016.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed fiscal by
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS:
Purpose. This bill is author sponsored. According to the
author, "This bill is necessary because the updated version of
CURES is not fully operational at this time and licensees need
an additional six months in order to comply with statutory
registration mandates."
Controlled Substances. Through the Controlled Substances Act of
1970, the federal government regulates the manufacture,
distribution and dispensing of controlled substances. The act
ranks into five schedules those drugs known to have potential
for physical or psychological harm, based on three
considerations: 1) their potential for abuse; 2) their accepted
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medical use; and, 3) their accepted safety under medical
supervision. The schedules are as follows:
1)Schedule I controlled substances have a high potential for
abuse and no generally accepted medical use such as heroin,
ecstasy, and LSD.
2)Schedule II controlled substances have a currently accepted
medical use in treatment, or a currently accepted medical use
with severe restrictions, and have a high potential for abuse
and psychological or physical dependence. Schedule II drugs
can be narcotics or non-narcotic. Examples of Schedule II
controlled substances include morphine, methadone, Ritalin,
Demerol, Dilaudid, Percocet, Percodan, and Oxycontin.
3)Schedule III and IV controlled substances have a currently
accepted medical use in treatment, less potential for abuse
but are known to be mixed in specific ways to achieve a
narcotic-like end product. Examples include drugs include
Vicodin, Zanex, Ambien and other anti-anxiety drugs.
4)Schedule V drugs have a low potential for abuse relative to
substances listed in Schedule IV and consist primarily of
preparations containing limited quantities of certain
narcotics.
The three classes of prescription drugs that are most commonly
abused are: 1) opioids, which are most often prescribed to
treat pain; 2) central nervous system depressants, which are
used to treat disorders such as anxiety and sleep disorders; and
3) stimulants, which are prescribed to treat disorders such as
narcolepsy and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Each
class can induce euphoria, and when administered by routes other
than recommended, such as snorting or dissolving into liquid to
drink or inject, can intensify that sensation. Opioids, in
particular, act on the same receptors as heroin and can be
highly addictive. Common opioids include: hydrocodone
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(Vicodin), oxycodone (OxyContin), propoxyphene (Darvon),
hydromorphone (Dilaudid), meperidine (Demerol), and
diphenoxylate (Lomotil).
Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System
(CURES). In California, the CURES is an electronic tracking
program that reports all pharmacy (and specified types of
prescriber) dispensing of controlled drugs by drug name,
quantity, prescriber, patient, and pharmacy. Data from the
CURES is managed by the DOJ to assist state law enforcement and
regulatory agencies in their efforts to reduce prescription drug
diversion. The CURES provides information that offers the
ability to identify if a person is "doctor shopping" (when a
prescription drug addict visits multiple doctors to obtain
multiple prescriptions for drugs, or uses multiple pharmacies to
obtain prescription drugs). Information tracked in the system
contains the patient name, prescriber name, pharmacy name, drug
name, amount and dosage, and is available to law enforcement
agencies, regulatory bodies and qualified researchers. The
system can also report on the top drugs prescribed for a
specific time period, drugs prescribed in a particular county,
doctor prescribing data, pharmacy dispensing data, and assists
in assessing whether multiple prescriptions for the same patient
may exist. CURES data can be obtained by the Medical Board, the
Dental Board, the Board of Registered Nursing, the Osteopathic
Medical Board and the Veterinary Medical Board.
Senate Bill 809. In 2013, SB 809 (DeSaulnier, Chapter 400,
Statutes of 2013) established the requirement and increased
licensing fees to help fund the CURES database. However, a
component of SB 809 related to the application process has not
yet been implemented. In addition to the requirement for
covered healthcare practitioners to apply for CURES, SB 809
required the DOJ, in conjunction with the DCA and the relevant
licensing and regulatory entities, to establish a streamlined
application to help facilitate the applications of the thousands
of licensees. The application process was originally estimated
to be available to licensees in the summer of 2015, which would
have allowed six months for licensees to utilize the new process
for their application; however, the streamlined registration
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process is now expected to be ready by July 1, 2016. This bill
delays the implementation date by six months to ensure a more
streamlined process for provider enrollment.
Analysis Prepared by:
Le Ondra Clark Harvey, Ph.D. / B. & P. / (916)
319-3301 FN:
0002444