CHAPTER 448
An Act to direct the Board of Medicine, the Board of Dentistry, the Board of Optometry, and the Boards of Medicine and Nursing to amend their regulations related to patient counseling for the prescription of opioids to treat acute or chronic pain.
[H 699]
Approved April 4, 2024
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. § 1. That the Board of Medicine, the Board of Dentistry, the Board of Optometry, and the Boards of Medicine and Nursing shall amend their regulations to require that, prior to issuing a prescription for any opioid to treat acute or chronic pain, practitioners provide patient counseling. Such patient counseling shall include providing the patient with information regarding (i) the risks of addiction and overdose associated with opioid drugs and the dangers of taking opioid drugs with alcohol, benzodiazepines, and other central nervous system depressants; (ii) the reasons why the prescription is necessary; (iii) alternative treatments that may be available; and (iv) risks associated with the use of the drugs being prescribed, specifically that opioids are highly addictive, even when taken as prescribed, that there is a risk of developing a physical or psychological dependence on the controlled dangerous substance, and that the risks of taking more opioids than prescribed, or mixing sedatives, benzodiazepines, or alcohol with opioids, can result in fatal respiratory depression. The regulations shall require that the practitioner document in the patient's medical record that the patient has discussed with the practitioner the risks of developing a physical or psychological dependence on the controlled dangerous substance and alternative treatments that may be available. The regulations shall include an exception to the patient counseling requirement for patients who are (a) in active treatment for cancer, (b) receiving hospice care from a licensed hospice or palliative care, (c) residents of a long-term care facility, (d) being prescribed an opioid in the course of treatment for substance abuse or opioid dependence, or (e) receiving treatment for sickle cell disease.
2. That the Board of Medicine, the Board of Dentistry, the Board of Optometry, and the Boards of Medicine and Nursing shall promulgate regulations to implement the provisions of this act to be effective within 280 days of its enactment.