COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 526
(By Senators Stollings, Foster, Jenkins and Kessler (Acting President))
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 24, 2011.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §16-4C-24, relating to allowing State Police, police, sheriffs and fire and emergency service providers to possess Naloxone to administer in suspected narcotic drug overdoses; defining terms; providing for training; granting immunity to trainers; granting immunity to initial responders; providing for data gathering and reporting; and authorizing legislative or emergency rules.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §16-4C-24, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4C. EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ACT.
§16-4C-24. Administration of an opioid antidote in an emergency situation.
(a) For purposes of this section:
(1) “Initial responder” means any emergency responders covered under this article and any member of the state police, any sheriff, any deputy sheriff, any municipal police officer, any volunteer and paid firefighters, and any other similar persons who respond to emergencies.
(2) "Opioid antagonist" means naloxone hydrochloride that is
approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for the
treatment of a drug overdose by intranasal administration.
(3) "Opioid overdose prevention and treatment training program" or "program" means any program operated or approved by the Office of Emergency Medical Services to train individuals to prevent, recognize, and respond to an opiate overdose, and that provides, at a minimum, training in all of the following:
(A) The causes of an opiate overdose;
(B) Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation;
(C) How to contact appropriate emergency medical services; and
(D) How to administer an opioid antagonist.
(b) A licensed health care provider who is permitted by law to prescribe an opioid antagonist may, if acting with reasonable care, prescribe and subsequently dispense or distribute an opioid antagonist in conjunction with an opioid overdose prevention and treatment training program, without being subject to civil liability or criminal prosecution. This immunity shall apply to the licensed health care provider even when the opioid antagonist is administered by and to someone other than the person to whom it is prescribed.
(c) Any initial responders, who are not otherwise licensed to administer an opioid antagonist, may administer an opioid antagonist in an emergency without fee if the initial responder has received the training specified in subdivision (3) of subsection (a) of this section and believes in good faith that the person being treated is experiencing an opiate overdose. The initial responder identified in this subsection, acting in good faith, is not, as a result of his or her acts or omissions, liable for any violation of any professional licensing statute, or subject to any criminal prosecution arising from or relating to the unauthorized practice of medicine or the possession of an opioid antagonist, or subject to any civil liability with respect to the administration of or failure to administer the opioid antagonist.
(d) Any initial responder prior to administering an opioid antagonist in an emergency circumstance, pursuant to this section, shall contact the West Virginia Medical Command System for approval to dispense an opioid antagonist.
(e) Data regarding each opioid overdose and prevention and treatment training program that the Office of Emergency Medical Services operates or recognizes as an approved program shall be collected and reported by January 1, 2015 to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources Accountability. The data collected and reported shall includes:
(1) Number of training programs operated in the local health jurisdiction;
(2) Number of individuals who have received a prescription for, and training to administer, an opioid antagonist.
(3) Number of opioid antagonist doses prescribed;
(4) Number of opioid antagonist doses administered;
(5) Number of individuals who received the opioid antagonist who were properly revived;
(6) Number of individuals who received the opioid antagonist who were not revived;
(7) Number of adverse events associated with an opioid overdose prevention and treatment training program, including a description of the adverse events.
(f) To implement the provisions of this section, including establishing the standards for certification and approval of opioid overdose prevention and treatment training programs, the Office of Emergency Medical Services may promulgate emergency rules pursuant to the provisions of section fifteen, article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code or propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow police, fire and emergency service providers, to possess Naloxone to administer in suspected narcotic drug overdoses.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
§16-4C-24 is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.)