What's happening
This bill requires the Department of Health to establish medical guidelines for transitioning patients from high-risk addictive pain medications to lower-risk options.
Why it matters
Aims to directly reduce opioid and other high-risk pain medication dependence. by requiring medical professionals to follow formal guidelines for transitioning patients to safer alternatives, potentially lowering addiction rates.
Could impact how doctors manage chronic pain. by encouraging or mandating the use of lower-risk pain management options (including non-controlled substances), thus shifting standard practices in pain treatment.
May influence insurance coverage and access. as new guidelines could prompt insurers to reassess what treatments and therapies they cover for pain management, possibly increasing support for non-pharmaceutical or less addictive options.
Signals a statewide priority to address the opioid crisis. by embedding addiction prevention strategies into routine medical care, which could lead to broader cultural and professional changes in how pain and addiction are approached in New York.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Safer Drug Transition Guidelines
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Referred to health
- Referred to health
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Safer Prescription Drug Guidelines
In Assembly Committee · Health · Sponsor Patrick Burke
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
653
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE (Prefiled)
January 9, 2019
Introduced by Sens. KENNEDY, KRUEGER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to creating medicinal guidelines to aid in the administration of prescription drugs to patients with high risks of addiction
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Michael David Israel addiction transition law".
§ 2. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 3351-a to read as follows:
§ 3351-a. Guidelines. The department shall promulgate medical guidelines and regulations for persons authorized under this title to distribute or dispense substances controlled under this title for the purpose of helping such persons transition patients from pain management substances with a high risk of addiction to pain management solutions that present a low risk of addiction or do not involve substances regulated under this title.
§ 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made on or before such effective date.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02140-01-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to creating medicinal guidelines to aid in the administration of prescription drugs to patients with high risks of addiction
Purpose
This bill requires the Department of Health to draft guidelines for the transition of patients from substances with a high risk of addiction to those with a low risk of addiction.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 defines the bill as Michael David Israel Addiction Transition Law.
Section 2 directs the Department of Health to promulgate guidelines for transitioning patients from high risk of addiction pain management solutions to low risk of addiction pain management solutions.
Section 3 is the enacting clause.
Justification
Michael David Israel, the son of Avi and Julie Israel, was one of many young people across New York State who battled with prescription drug abuse. On June 4, 2011 Michael David Israel tragically took his own life.
Michael's story is not a unique one. Nationally deaths from prescription opiates have tripled since 1999, and overdoses from prescription opiates now hospitalize more people each year than cocaine or heroin. Addi- tionally, in a recent University at Buffalo study of 75 addicts, 41 percent reported their addiction began with medicine prescribed legally by their doctors.
The rate at which doctors are prescribing opiates is also alarming. In New York State 37 prescriptions are written for hydrocodone, fentanyl, and oxycodone for every 100 New Yorkers. In Western New York that rate is almost double, with 65 prescriptions being written for every 100 residents. These statistics are concerning, and in some regards alarm- ing.
This bill would require the Department of Health develop a set of guide- lines to help doctors transition patients from high risk of addiction pain management solutions to low risk of addiction pain management solutions. In some cases, long-term use of opiate pain killers is neces- sary, but in many cases alternative methods can be used to manage the patients pain while avoiding the potential for a damaging addiction to develop.
This bill does not require doctors to implement these strategies and still leaves the decision for how best to care for the patient up to their doctor, but it does provide doctors with an important resource.
Legislative history
2012: S.6181/A.9093 Referred to Health 2013-14: S.480 Referred to Health 2015-16: S.647 Referred to Health 2017-18: S.1814 Referred to Health
Fiscal implications
Minimal fiscal implications.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.