FILED ON: 11/19/2013

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1926

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Thirteen

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An Act regulating the use of buprenorphine in opioid dependence treatment.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

Chapter 94C of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting, after section 6, the following section:-

Section 6A. The department of public health shall promulgate regulations relative to the treatment of opioid dependency through the prescribing and use of buprenorphine and its variants. These regulations shall include, but not be limited to: (i) defining the entities or health care providers governed by these regulations and shall seek approval from the department to provide the services; (ii) establishing the approval and licensure process; (iii) establishing appropriate staffing, training and reporting requirements; (iv) establishing and defining patients’ rights, including termination from treatment and appropriate continuity of care; and (v) establishing treatment requirements, including routine toxicology screens of clients, medication call-backs, maximum take-home dosages and any other diversion control mechanism necessary to limit the diversion of buprenorphine and its variants.