Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman PATRICIA EGAN JONES
District 5 (Camden and Gloucester)
Assemblywoman PAMELA R. LAMPITT
District 6 (Burlington and Camden)
Assemblyman JAMEL C. HOLLEY
District 20 (Union)
Assemblyman VINCENT MAZZEO
District 2 (Atlantic)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman Spencer
SYNOPSIS
Requires electronic prescribing systems to default to three-day supply of opioid drugs, with ability for prescribers to issue prescriptions in any authorized quantity deemed medically appropriate.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning prescriptions for opioid medications and supplementing Title 45 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Whenever an electronic health record system is used to issue a prescription for an opioid drug which is a prescription drug as defined in section 2 of P.L.2003, c.280 (C.45:14-41), the system shall default to a three-day supply of the drug, which amount may be modified by the prescriber as appropriate to meet the patient’s treatment needs. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit the prescriber from issuing a prescription for an opioid drug which is a prescription drug in any quantity the prescriber determines to be medically necessary to treat the patient, provided the prescription otherwise meets the requirements of State and federal law.
2. This act shall take effect 60 days after the date of enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill provides that, when a prescription for an opioid drug is issued using an electronic health records system, the system is to default to a three-day supply of the drug, which amount may be modified by the prescriber as appropriate to meet the patient’s treatment needs. Prescribers will be permitted to issue prescriptions in any quantity the prescriber deems medically necessary, provided that the prescription otherwise meets the requirements of State and federal law.
It is the sponsor’s belief that requiring electronic health records systems to default to a three-day supply of opioid drugs will help encourage prescribers to carefully evaluate the amounts being prescribed and ensure they are appropriate to the patient’s treatment needs, without impinging on the prescriber’s authority to prescribe medication to patients in a manner the prescriber deems to be medically appropriate.