Florida’s new controlled substance prescription drug law went into effect in July. Among other things, the new law requires that any physician who prescribes controlled substance medications to a patient for chronic nonmalignant pain must designate himself or herself as a “controlled substance prescribing practitioner” with the Florida Department of Health (“DOH”) by January 1, 2012. In order to effect the designation, click on the following link:
http://www.doh.state.fl.us/mqa/ControlledSubstance_RxReg.html
The DOH website provides simple, step-by-step instructions. Again, any physician who is a “controlled substance prescribing practitioner” must effect the designation by January 1, 2012.
For those physicians who have questions regarding the requirements of the new law, we teamed up with a leading pain-management physician to prepare The Compliance Manual for Prescribing Controlled Substances in Florida. The compliance manual provides a detailed breakdown of the new law, including registration requirements, exceptions, exemptions, standards of practice, and much more (please note that the compliance manual is published by DT & BW Publishing, LLC.) If you would like more information about the manual, or if you are interested in purchasing the manual, please visit www.painmanual.com.
Please contact an attorney in the health care practice group if you have questions about the new law or the compliance manual.
