***IMPORTANT NOTICES***

PLEASE READ HB 1 AND THE SPECIFIC REGULATIONS

It appears to the Board that doctors are being provided incorrect, misleading and/or confusing information about HB 1 and the specific regulations relating to licensing.
The information in each of these documents may directly affect your practice of medicine or osteopathy and possibly your license to practice.  Therefore, it is essential and the Board strongly encourages each licensed physician to go to the Board’s website and read the actual language of HB 1 and the following regulations:
201 KAR 9:001    Definitions for terms used in KRS 218A.172
201 KAR 9:220    Restriction Upon Dispensing of Schedule II Controlled Substances and Schedule III Controlled Substances with Hydrocodone
201 KAR 9:230    Required KASPER Registration
201 KAR 9:250    Registration and Oversight of Pain Management Facilities
201 KAR 9:260    Professional Standards for Prescribing and Dispensing Controlled Substances
201 KAR 9:310    Continuing Medical Education
If you rely upon information about or characterization of HB 1 or the related regulations provided by others, you do so at your own risk and may be relying upon incorrect, incomplete or confusing information in your practice.

CRIMINAL PENALTY IN HB 1 ONLY APPLIES TO PAIN MANAGEMENT FACILITIES
It appears that physicians have been told that they will be subject to criminal prosecution for a Class D felony or a Class A misdemeanor if they do not comply with each professional standard set out in HB 1 or related regulations.
THIS IS INCORRECT.
There is only one new criminal provision in HB 1.  That provision only applies to violations of the statutory requirements for pain management facilities.  Those requirements relate to:
a)  the requirements and qualifications for ownership or investment interest in the facility; and,
b)  the requirements and qualifications for physician presence in the facility for at least 50% of the time.
The Board conferred with the Attorney General’s Office on this issue.  HB 1 (218A.172) does not create any new criminal offense relating to prescribing or dispensing controlled substances.  The standards for initiating a criminal prosecution for prescribing or dispensing controlled substances are the same as they were before the passage of HB 1.  Physicians who are legitimately prescribing or dispensing controlled substances should not be concerned about criminal liability simply because the professional standards have been placed in statute or regulation.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO START FROM SCRATCH

There has been some concern that the passage of HB 1 and the enactment of the Board’s regulations means that each physician must “go back” and meet all of the standards set out in these documents for every patient receiving controlled substances.
THIS IS INCORRECT.
    You must consider where each patient is in the treatment process and use the standards that apply to a patient at that stage:
·         If you are prescribing or dispensing a controlled substance to the patient for the first time for a medical complaint and related symptoms, you must meet the standards of HB 1 and the Board’s regulation
·         If your prescribing for the patient for a medical complaint and related symptoms is going to exceed 3 months, after the July 20, 2012, you must meet the standards set out in the Board’s regulation.
·         If you are continuing to prescribe controlled substances to a patient who had been receiving controlled substances for the medical complaint and related symptoms as of July 20, 2012, you must meet the standards set out in the Board’s regulation for long-term prescribing.
NOTE:  If you have been prescribing controlled substances to patient for longer than 3 months, you are NOT required by the regulation to “go back” and meet all of the standards for continuing prescribing beyond 3 months.  You may, if you determine it is professionally appropriate, but are not required by the regulation to do so.  You simply have to comply with the standards for long-term prescribing from July 20, 2012 forward.