Section effective January 1, 2021.

(A) If a person is administered an opioid antidote in a hospital emergency department or other health care facility and the supervising physician diagnoses the patient as having experienced an opioid overdose, the health care facility, as defined in Section 44-7-130, shall report to the department's Bureau of Drug Control information regarding the opioid antidote administered for inclusion in the prescription monitoring program. The information submitted must include:

(1) date the opioid antidote was administered; and

(2) name, address, and date of birth of the person to whom the opioid antidote was administered.

(B) The health care facility, as defined in Section 44-7-130, shall submit the information required pursuant to subsection (A) electronically or by facsimile to Drug Control within thirty days after a discharge diagnosis of an opioid overdose and administration of an opioid antidote.

(C)(1) After a health care facility, as defined in Section 44-7-130, submits the name, address, and date of birth of a person to whom an opioid antidote was administered as required by subsection (A), Drug Control shall verify whether any prescription history of the person appears in the prescription monitoring program and, if prescription history exists, shall document for review by a practitioner or an authorized delegate the date on which the opioid antidote was administered to the person.

(2) Drug Control also shall maintain data on the administering of opioid antidotes as required by this section including, but not limited to, the frequency with which opioid antidotes are administered in hospital emergency departments as required pursuant to subsection (A) and other health care facilities by geographic location.

HISTORY: 2019 Act No. 65 (H.3728), Section 1, eff January 1, 2021.

Editor's Note

2019 Act No. 65, preamble, provides as follows:

"Whereas, the South Carolina General Assembly is committed to combatting the opioid epidemic occurring within this State; and

"Whereas, the South Carolina General Assembly has enacted and is working to enact legislation aimed at stemming the misuse of opioids in South Carolina; and

"Whereas, collecting information related to opioid use and misuse helps those working to better understand the complexities of substance abuse disorders and enables those working with patients suffering from this disease to develop strategies for treatment, education, and care; and

"Whereas, the purpose of this legislation is to provide data to health care professionals treating patients who have been diagnosed with an opioid overdose and received an antidote in response to that overdose; and

"Whereas, the South Carolina General Assembly intends for the information collected pursuant to this law to be used by health care professionals to assist patients in getting appropriate treatment including, but not limited to, treatment for substance abuse disorder; and

"Whereas, the General Assembly intends further that the information collected pursuant to this law should not be used as the sole determining factor in a decision regarding whether to treat or refuse to treat a patient suffering from an opioid misuse. Now, therefore, [text of act]."