Pa. Bill to Add Buprenorphine Prescribing Restrictions Revived

A Pennsylvania state senator has announced plans to resuscitate a bill that would create new regulations around the provision of buprenorphine in the state.

In a memorandum dated Jan. 8, state Sen. Michele Brooks announced her intention to reintroduce Senate Bill 675 from the state’s previous legislative session. Among the bill’s provisions:

• Office-based buprenorphine prescribers would be required to obtain certification by completing an additional training program and paying a fee of up to $500.
• Providers would not be able to prescribe buprenorphine to a patient unless: the patient demonstrates active participation in a state-licensed addiction treatment program, the program participation is documented in the patient’s medical record, and the prescriber is state-certified.

Failure to comply could result in a license suspension or revocation, as well as fines or other penalties.

In its first go-round, the bill was approved, 41-9, by Pennsylvania’s Senate in June 2019, but the state’s House did not put it up for a vote. In her memorandum, Brooks voiced concerns over misuse and abuse of Suboxone/buprenorphine by Pennsylvania residents, as well as a lack of oversight by the state.

Deni Carise, PhD, chief scientific officer for Recovery Centers of America, which is based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, says that energy being channeled to increasing oversight is misplaced and that the bill “creates unnecessary barriers to treatment at a time when we’re seeing an increase in opioid problems and fatal opioid overdose deaths.”

“It’s always so curious to me that physicians need any additional training and a special waiver to prescribe a treatment for opioid use disorder but never needed any special training, waivers, etc., to prescribe the opioids that put someone at risk for needing this treatment,” Carise tells Addiction Professional. “If there’s a lack of oversight, it the oversight needed to make sure medical students get the training needed in both adequately treating pain and understanding and evaluating substance use disorders.”