House Committee Moves Forward Revised Controlled Substances Legislation

Feb 9, 2024
The House Health & Human Services Committee passed CS/HB 21 by Rep. Jim Boyd (R-Bradenton) with a strikeall amendment on Wednesday, Feb. 21. The underlying premise of the bill remains the same, which is to limit the prescribing and dispensing of controlled substances.
The amendment maintains limiting prescribing of controlled substances to a three-day limit, with exceptions. Health care practitioners would be allowed to prescribe up to a seven-day supply of a controlled substance by indicating “acute pain exception” on the prescription, and adequately documenting in the patient’s record the condition and lack of alternative treatment options. The amendment also revises the definition of “acute pain” to mean the normal, predicted, physiological and timelimited response to an adverse chemical, thermal or mechanical stimulus associated with surgery, trauma or acute illness. The term “acute pain” does not include pain related to cancer, a terminal condition, palliative care or a traumatic injury with an International Classification Injury Severity Score of 9 or higher. The amendment also directs the Department of Health (DOH) to adopt rules establishing guidelines for prescribing controlled substances for acute pain. The legislation still requires all health care practitioners to check the prescription drug monitoring program database prior to prescribing or dispensing a controlled substance. The amendment also adds a clause to purge information on the database that is more than four years old. 

The amendment continues to require all health care practitioners who prescribe controlled substances to complete a minimum of two hours of continuing education (CE) on the safe and effective prescribing of controlled substances. Furthermore, the amendment would require all health care practitioners to take their CE course on controlled substances through courses offered by the Florida Medical Association or the Florida Osteopathic Medical Association. The FDA does not support a requirement that limits CE courses only offered through the medical associations. FDA staff has spoken to Rep. Boyd to include CE courses on controlled substances offered by the American Dental Association and the FDA, which would be more appropriate and based on dental cases. CS/HB 21 will now head to the House floor for consideration. The Senate companion, CS/SB 8 by Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto (R-Fort Myers), is waiting to be heard on the Senate floor. For more information, please refer to Vol. 25, No. 2 of Capital Report. Please note, you must be logged in to view this document.

Capital Report