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Legislation Document
SPONSOR:
Sen. Poore & Rep. K. Johnson
DELAWARE STATE SENATE
153rd GENERAL ASSEMBLY
SENATE SUBSTITUTE NO. 1
FOR
SENATE BILL NO. 101
AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE DEFINITION OF THE PATIENT-PRACTITIONER RELATIONSHIP.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE:
Section 1. Amend Chapter 47, Title 16 of the Delaware Code by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underline as follows:
§ 4701. Definitions.
(34) “Patient-practitioner relationship” means, with respect to prescribing drugs for a patient, that the practitioner is a licensed practitioner
who:
who meets one or more of the following:
a. Has conducted at least 1 in-person medical evaluation of the patient and performed a medical history and physical examination sufficient to establish a diagnosis and to identify underlying conditions of, or contraindications to, the treatment recommended or
provided; or
provided.
b. Personally knows the patient and the patient’s general health status through an existing patient-practitioner
relationship; or
relationship.
c. Provides treatment in consultation with or upon referral of another practitioner who has an existing patient-practitioner relationship with the patient and who has agreed to supervise the patient’s treatment, including follow-up care and use of the prescribed
medications; or
medications.
d. Provides treatment to the patient through an on-call or cross-coverage situation for another practitioner who has an existing patient-practitioner relationship with the
patient; or
patient.
e. Provides continuing medications on a short-term basis for a new patient prior to the first
appointment; or
appointment.
f. Provides treatment based upon admission orders for a newly hospitalized patient.
g. Provides treatment for opioid use disorder under a properly established provider-patient relationship as provided by § 6003 of Title 24 for Schedule III through V medications approved by the Federal Drug Administration for such treatment.
SYNOPSIS
This Act is a substitute for Senate Bill No. 101. It makes no substantive changes to Senate Bill No. 101 other than substituting the synopsis language from the prior bill for the new synopsis, as follows:
This Act resolves a conflict between the Uniform Controlled Substances Act which requires an in-person examination to prescribe controlled substances for treatment of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and Delaware's telehealth regulations, the Telehealth Access Act which does not require an in-person examination. This bill connects and clarifies the two regulations by modifying the "patient-practitioner relationship" definition in Chapter 47, Title 16, the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, to include a practitioner treating OUD via telemedicine with Schedule III through V medication. The guardrails included in this short addition include: limiting the medication to only Schedule III through V, which has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of OUD and citing to the thorough requirements for establishing a provider-patient relationship under Section 6003 of Title 24, the 2021 Telehealth Access Act, which addresses requirements such as standard of care, medical record keeping, consent, and medical board oversight.
Author: Senator Poore