Senate Bill S653

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S653

SPONSOR: KENNEDY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public health law, in relation to creating medicinal
guidelines to aid in the administration of prescription drugs to
patients with high risks of addiction

 
PURPOSE:

This bill requires the Department of Health to draft guidelines for the
transition of patients from substances with a high risk of addiction to
those with a low risk of addiction.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 defines the bill as Michael David Israel Addiction Transition
Law.

Section 2 directs the Department of Health to promulgate guidelines for
              

transitioning patients from high risk of addiction pain management
solutions to low risk of addiction pain management solutions.

Section 3 is the enacting clause.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Michael David Israel, the son of Avi and Julie Israel, was one of many
young people across New York State who battled with prescription drug
abuse. On June 4, 2011 Michael David Israel tragically took his own
life.

Michael's story is not a unique one. Nationally deaths from prescription
opiates have tripled since 1999, and overdoses from prescription opiates
now hospitalize more people each year than cocaine or heroin. Addi-
tionally, in a recent University at Buffalo study of 75 addicts, 41
percent reported their addiction began with medicine prescribed legally
by their doctors.

The rate at which doctors are prescribing opiates is also alarming. In
New York State 37 prescriptions are written for hydrocodone, fentanyl,
and oxycodone for every 100 New Yorkers. In Western New York that rate
is almost double, with 65 prescriptions being written for every 100
residents. These statistics are concerning, and in some regards alarm-
ing.

This bill would require the Department of Health develop a set of guide-
lines to help doctors transition patients from high risk of addiction
pain management solutions to low risk of addiction pain management
solutions. In some cases, long-term use of opiate pain killers is neces-
sary, but in many cases alternative methods can be used to manage the
patients pain while avoiding the potential for a damaging addiction to
develop.

This bill does not require doctors to implement these strategies and
still leaves the decision for how best to care for the patient up to
their doctor, but it does provide doctors with an important resource.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2012: S.6181/A.9093 Referred to Health
2013-14: S.480 Referred to Health
2015-16: S.647 Referred to Health
2017-18: S.1814 Referred to Health

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Minimal fiscal implications.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become law.