Legislature adjourns, health bills bundled

The legislature adjourned the regular session shortly after 6pm on Friday, April 5. With school finance negotiations complete and passage of an increased funding package, both the House and Senate were able to wrap up other lingering issues on the final day. Among those issues were health packages representing several pieces of policy bundled together in conference committee.

HB 2119 combined three bills that represented KMS involvement.

HB 2389 mandates that all opioids schedules II-IV must be e-prescribed by 2021. As originally introduced, the bill would have mandated e-prescribing for all controlled substances by January of 2020. KMS supported pushing back implementation to coincide with federal requirements relating to e-prescribing for Medicare Part D. Additionally, several exceptions and exemptions were adopted, including a waiver for a physician who writes fewer than 50 prescriptions a year, for technological failure or economic hardship and a number of other clinical scenarios.  

HB 2119 also included HB 2082, allowing pharmacists to administer injections that would otherwise be self-administered by patients. As originally drafted, the bill allowed pharmacists to administer any drug by any method. KMS urged that the bill should narrow its focus so as not to be harmful and removed opposition when proponents accepted our suggested amendment.  

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