2017 Kentucky Revised Statutes CHAPTER 218A - CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES .205 Reports of improper, inappropriate, or illegal prescribing or dispensing of controlled substances -- Administrative regulations for prescribing and dispensing protocols and licensure actions and requirements -- Presumption of medical necessity -- Complaint procedure -- Criminal record check.
Download as PDF
218A.205
Reports of improper, inappropriate, or illegal prescribing or
dispensing of controlled substances -- Administrative regulations for
prescribing and dispensing protocols and licensure actions and
requirements -- Presumption of medical necessity -- Complaint procedure
-- Criminal record check.
(1)
(2)
(3)
As used in this section:
(a) "Reporting agency" includes:
1.
The Department of Kentucky State Police;
2.
The Office of the Attorney General;
3.
The Cabinet for Health and Family Services; and
4.
The applicable state licensing board; and
(b) "State licensing board" means:
1.
The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure;
2.
The Kentucky Board of Nursing;
3.
The Kentucky Board of Dentistry;
4.
The Kentucky Board of Optometric Examiners;
5.
The State Board of Podiatry; and
6.
Any other board that licenses or regulates a person who is entitled
to prescribe or dispense controlled substances to humans.
(a) When a reporting agency or a law enforcement agency receives a report
of improper, inappropriate, or illegal prescribing or dispensing of a
controlled substance it may, to the extent otherwise allowed by law, send
a copy of the report within three (3) business days to every other reporting
agency.
(b) A county attorney or Commonwealth's attorney shall notify the Office of
the Attorney General and the appropriate state licensing board within
three (3) business days of an indictment or a waiver of indictment
becoming public in his or her jurisdiction charging a licensed person with
a felony offense relating to the manufacture of, trafficking in, prescribing,
dispensing, or possession of a controlled substance.
Each state licensing board shall, in consultation with the Kentucky Office of
Drug Control Policy, establish the following by administrative regulation for
those licensees authorized to prescribe or dispense controlled substances:
(a) Mandatory prescribing and dispensing standards related to controlled
substances, the requirements of which shall include the diagnostic,
treatment, review, and other protocols and standards established for
Schedule II controlled substances and Schedule III controlled substances
containing hydrocodone under KRS 218A.172 and which may include the
exemptions authorized by KRS 218A.172(4);
(b) In accord with the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain
published in 2016, a prohibition on a practitioner issuing a prescription for
a Schedule II controlled substance for more than a three (3) day supply of
a Schedule II controlled substance if the prescription is intended to treat
pain as an acute medical condition, with the following exceptions:
1.
(c)
(d)
(e)
The practitioner, in his or her professional judgment, believes that
more than a three (3) day supply of a Schedule II controlled
substance is medically necessary to treat the patient's pain as an
acute medical condition and the practitioner adequately documents
the acute medical condition and lack of alternative treatment options
which justifies deviation from the three (3) day supply limit
established in this subsection in the patient's medical records;
2.
The prescription for a Schedule II controlled substance is prescribed
to treat chronic pain;
3.
The prescription for a Schedule II controlled substance is prescribed
to treat pain associated with a valid cancer diagnosis;
4.
The prescription for a Schedule II controlled substance is prescribed
to treat pain while the patient is receiving hospice or end-of-life
treatment;
5.
The prescription for a Schedule II controlled substance is prescribed
as part of a narcotic treatment program licensed by the Cabinet for
Health and Family Services;
6.
The prescription for a Schedule II controlled substance is prescribed
to treat pain following a major surgery or the treatment of significant
trauma, as defined by the state licensing board in consultation with
the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy;
7.
The Schedule II controlled substance is dispensed or administered
directly to an ultimate user in an inpatient setting; or
8.
Any additional treatment scenario deemed medically necessary by
the state licensing board in consultation with the Kentucky Office of
Drug Control Policy.
Nothing in this paragraph shall authorize a state licensing board to
promulgate regulations which expand any practitioner's prescriptive
authority beyond that which existed prior to June 29, 2017;
A prohibition on a practitioner dispensing greater than a forty-eight (48)
hour supply of any Schedule II controlled substance or a Schedule III
controlled substance containing hydrocodone unless the dispensing is
done as part of a narcotic treatment program licensed by the Cabinet for
Health and Family Services;
A procedure for temporarily suspending, limiting, or restricting a license
held by a named licensee where a substantial likelihood exists to believe
that the continued unrestricted practice by the named licensee would
constitute a danger to the health, welfare, or safety of the licensee's
patients or of the general public;
A procedure for the expedited review of complaints filed against their
licensees pertaining to the improper, inappropriate, or illegal prescribing
or dispensing of controlled substances that is designed to commence an
investigation within seven (7) days of a complaint being filed and produce
a charging decision by the board on the complaint within one hundred
twenty (120) days of the receipt of the complaint, unless an extension for
a definite period of time is requested by a law enforcement agency due to
(4)
(5)
(6)
an ongoing criminal investigation;
(f) The establishment and enforcement of licensure standards that conform
to the following:
1.
A permanent ban on licensees and applicants convicted after July
20, 2012, in this state or any other state of any felony offense
relating to controlled substances from prescribing or dispensing a
controlled substance;
2.
Restrictions short of a permanent ban on licensees and applicants
convicted in this state or any other state of any misdemeanor
offense relating to prescribing or dispensing a controlled substance;
3.
Restrictions mirroring in time and scope any disciplinary limitation
placed on a licensee or applicant by a licensing board of another
state if the disciplinary action results from improper, inappropriate, or
illegal prescribing or dispensing of controlled substances; and
4.
A requirement that licensees and applicants report to the board any
conviction or disciplinary action covered by this subsection with
appropriate sanctions for any failure to make this required report;
(g) A procedure for the continuous submission of all disciplinary and other
reportable information to the National Practitioner Data Bank of the United
States Department of Health and Human Services;
(h) If not otherwise required by other law, a process for submitting a query on
each applicant for licensure to the National Practitioner Data Bank of the
United States Department of Health and Human Services to retrieve any
relevant data on the applicant; and
(i) Continuing education requirements beginning with the first full
educational year occurring after July 1, 2012, that specify that at least
seven and one-half percent (7.5%) of the continuing education required of
the licensed practitioner relate to the use of the electronic monitoring
system established in KRS 218A.202, pain management, or addiction
disorders.
For the purposes of pharmacy dispensing, the medical necessity for a
Schedule II controlled substance as documented by the practitioner in the
patient's medical record and the prescription for more than a three (3) day
supply of that controlled substance are presumed to be valid.
A state licensing board shall employ or obtain the services of a specialist in the
treatment of pain and a specialist in drug addiction to evaluate information
received regarding a licensee's prescribing or dispensing practices related to
controlled substances if the board or its staff does not possess such expertise,
to ascertain if the licensee under investigation is engaging in improper,
inappropriate, or illegal practices.
Any statute to the contrary notwithstanding, no state licensing board shall
require that a grievance or complaint against a licensee relating to controlled
substances be sworn to or notarized, but the grievance or complaint shall
identify the name and address of the grievant or complainant, unless the board
by administrative regulation authorizes the filing of anonymous complaints. Any
such authorizing administrative regulation shall require that an anonymous
(7)
(8)
complaint or grievance be accompanied by sufficient corroborating evidence as
would allow the board to believe, based upon a totality of the circumstances,
that a reasonable probability exists that the complaint or grievance is
meritorious.
Every state licensing board shall cooperate to the maximum extent permitted
by law with all state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies, and all
professional licensing boards and agencies, state and federal, in the United
States or its territories in the coordination of actions to deter the improper,
inappropriate, or illegal prescribing or dispensing of a controlled substance.
Each state licensing board shall require a fingerprint-supported criminal record
check by the Department of Kentucky State Police and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation of any applicant for initial licensure to practice any profession
authorized to prescribe or dispense controlled substances.
Effective:June 29, 2017
History: Amended 2017 Ky. Acts ch. 168, sec. 7, effective June 29, 2017. -Amended 2013 Ky. Acts ch. 2, sec. 4, effective March 4, 2013. -- Created 2012
(1st Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 1, sec. 2, effective July 20, 2012.
Disclaimer: These codes may not be the most recent version. Kentucky may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.