Amends TCA Title 53, Chapter 10, Part 3.

This bill makes the following changes and additions to present law concerning controlled substances: (1) Present law authorizes the commissioner of health to enter agreements and promulgate rules for the control, sharing, and dissemination of data and information in the controlled substance database with the CDC, other states, or other entities acting on behalf of a state. This bill adds that the agreements and rules may also include the control, sharing, and dissemination of data and information in the database with other governmental entities; (2) Present law generally requires the submission of information to the database by any healthcare practitioner who dispenses a controlled substance contained in Schedules II, III, and IV, and Schedule V controlled substances identified by the controlled substance database committee as demonstrating a potential for abuse, or by any healthcare practitioner delegate who is designated to submit data on a healthcare practitioner's behalf. Present law specifies six exceptions to the reporting requirement. This bill deletes the exceptions for: (A) Any entity that is registered by the United States DEA as a narcotic treatment program and is subject to certain federal recordkeeping requirements; and (B) Any drug dispensed or distributed by a facility; provided, that the quantity dispensed or distributed is limited to an amount that is adequate to treat the patient for a maximum of 48 hours. This bill adds an exemption for any drug, other than methadone, prescribed for administration directly to a patient during the course of inpatient or residential treatment in a hospital or nursing home or during the course of inpatient treatment in a hospital licensed to treat persons with a substance abuse; (3) This bill adds that a healthcare practitioner whose practice is a Part 2 program must submit the dispensing of all controlled substances in accordance with the Tennessee Prescription Safety Act of 2016. This bill defines "Part 2 program" to mean a federally assisted: (A) Individual or entity (other than a general medical facility) who holds itself out as providing, and provides, substance use disorder diagnosis, treatment, or referral for treatment; (B) Identified unit within a general medical facility that holds itself out as providing, and provides, substance use disorder diagnosis, treatment, or referral for treatment; or (C) Medical personnel or other staff in a general medical facility whose primary function is the provision of substance use disorder diagnosis, treatment, or referral for treatment and who are identified as such providers. This requirement will not apply to a practitioner until the commissioner promulgates rules regulating the reporting of such dispensing and access to the reported information that complies with the confidentiality provisions of federal regulations; (4) This bill adds several provisions to require that information reported to the database by a Part 2 program is subject to the privacy protections of federal regulations; (5) Present law specifies that information disseminated pursuant to an agreement entered by the commissioner (as described in (1)) must be for certain types of data sharing or the analysis of controlled substance prescriptions for public health research "by other state or federal entities charged with protecting the public health". This bill removes the requirement that, when information is shared for public health research, the information may only be shared with other government entities. This bill adds authorization to agree to disseminate the information with authorized recipient for patient care coordination; and (6) This bill makes several technical clarifications to present law. ON MARCH 24, 2022, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 2171, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 revises various provisions of this bill, as follows: (1) Removes "other than methadone" from this bill's exemption from the reporting requirement for any drug, other than methadone, prescribed for administration directly to a patient during the course of inpatient or residential treatment in a hospital or nursing home or during the course of inpatient treatment in a hospital licensed to treat persons with a substance abuse; (2) Adds "the administration of controlled substances" (in addition to "the dispensing of controlled substances"), in the provision described above in the bill summary in (3) whereby a healthcare practitioner whose practice is a Part 2 program must submit the dispensing of all controlled substances in accordance with the Tennessee Prescription Safety Act of 2016; and (3) Clarifies the applicability of privacy protections of federal regulations for information reported to the database by a Part 2 program.