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Senate passes limit on first-time opioid prescriptions to seven days; database check required for most initial fills
Summary
The Utah Senate passed second substitute House Bill 50, which limits most new Schedule II and III opioid prescriptions to a seven-day supply and requires prescribers to consult the controlled substances database on most first prescriptions; the measure preserves physician discretion and contains listed exemptions.
The Utah Senate on the floor passed second substitute House Bill 50, a measure to tighten initial opioid prescribing for acute pain and to promote use of the state controlled-substances database.
Sponsor Senator Vickers told colleagues the measure limits new acute Schedule II and III opioid prescriptions to seven days and requires prescribers to consult the controlled-substances database on first prescriptions longer than three days. "If in that determination of that physician, it's an acute situation ... that first prescription cannot be for more than 7 days," Vickers said, adding a physician may nonetheless write a 30-day prescription with directions that only the first seven days be filled immediately.
Vickers emphasized physician discretion and several carve-outs: chronic pain patients already receiving long-term therapy are not affected; surgeons may write for longer post-operative supplies; and writing for three days or less does not trigger the database-check requirement.
Senators pressed for details. Senator Stevenson asked whether database checks apply only to acute prescriptions; Vickers replied, "That is correct. The provision is if they write for a 3 day supply or less, they would not be required to check the database. Anything more than that on that first prescription, they would be required to check the database." Senator Dayton asked whether patients would need to return to a pharmacy after seven days if they initially received a seven-day dispense; Vickers said a prescriber can write a 30-day prescription with an instruction to fill only the first seven days and then fill remaining quantity later if clinically indicated.
Vickers told the Senate the bill contains no new criminal penalties for clinicians and aims to change prescribing practices via clinical judgment and monitoring. ‘‘There isn't…no penalty in this. So a physician is not going to be penalized,’’ he said.
After questions and brief debate about access and clinical exceptions, the Senate suspended the three-reading rule and passed HB 50 under suspension. The bill was recorded on a roll-call and will be transmitted to the House for further action.
Next steps: the measure, as passed by the Senate, will go to the House for its consideration and any further action there.
