STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2496

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3136

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 3136 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ELECTRONIC PRESCRIPTION ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require a dispenser of a controlled substance to either:

(1) Report the filling of a controlled substance prescription to the State's Electronic Prescription Accountability System in real time; or

(2) Report "zero" not less than once every seven days if no controlled substances prescriptions are filled.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety.

Your Committee finds that the Electronic Prescription Accountability System (EPAS) is the State's database for controlled substance prescriptions dispensed to patients. Under existing law, dispensers of controlled substances, like pharmacists, are required to report the dispensing of a controlled substance to the EPAS once every seven days. However, the national trend is to require real-time reporting of dispensed controlled substances. Up-to-date information better supports the prescribing and dispensing decisions of physicians, advanced practice registered nurses with prescriptive authority, and pharmacists. Additionally, requiring a dispenser to report "zero" if no controlled substances prescriptions are filled will allow the State to determine who is and is not dispensing controlled substances, and who is not complying with the State's reporting requirements.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of January 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3136, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3136, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

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JARRETT KEOHOKALOLE, Chair