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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Fourth Legislature, First Regular Session
qualifying physicians; opiate-dependent patients
Purpose
Requires the Arizona Medical Board (AMB) and the Arizona Board of Osteopathic Examiners in Medicine and Surgery (ABOE) to determine if a licensed physician demonstrates the training or experience necessary to qualify for a federal registration to dispense narcotics for specified treatments.
Background
The primary duty of the AMB and ABOE is to protect the public from unlawful, incompetent, unqualified, impaired or unprofessional practitioners of allopathic and osteopathic medicine through the licensure and regulation of the professions in Arizona. Among other duties, the AMB is tasked with developing and recommending standards for doctors of medicine, adopting rules for the regulation and qualifications of doctors of medicine, ordering and evaluating testing of licensed physicians and candidates for licensure, initiating investigations and determining if a doctor of medicine has engaged in unprofessional conduct (A.R.S. § 32-1403). Similarly, the ABOE is tasked with licensing practitioners of osteopathic medicine, adopting rules for the regulation and qualifications of medical assistants, and discipling and rehabilitating osteopathic physicians (A.R.S. § 32-1803).
Federal law currently requires practitioners who dispense narcotic drugs to individuals for maintenance treatment or detoxification treatment to meet certain criteria and to obtain an annual registration from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (U.S. DEA).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Requires the AMB and the ABOE to determine whether a prospective or current Arizona licensed physician has the training or experience to demonstrate the physician's ability to treat and manage opiate-dependent patients as a U.S. DEA qualifying physician.
2. Makes technical changes.
3. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Research
January 28, 2019
CRS/kja