SB 507 - AS INTRODUCED
2020 SESSION
20-2956
01/06
SENATE BILL 507
AN ACT relative to prescription medication for treatment or prevention of communicable disease.
SPONSORS: Sen. Fuller Clark, Dist 21; Sen. Reagan, Dist 17; Sen. Gray, Dist 6; Rep. Woods, Merr. 23; Rep. MacKay, Merr. 14; Rep. Ebel, Merr. 5; Rep. Knirk, Carr. 3
COMMITTEE: Health and Human Services
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ANALYSIS
This bill clarifies administration of certain drugs or treatment to prevent communicable disease.
This bill is a request of the department of health and human services.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
20-2956
01/06
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty
AN ACT relative to prescription medication for treatment or prevention of communicable disease.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Communicable Disease; Definitions. Amend RSA 141-C:2, X-a to read as follows:
X-a. “Drugs” when not otherwise limited, means all substances used as medicines or in the practice of medicine.
X-b. "Health care provider" means any person who or entity which provides health care services including, but not limited to, hospitals, medical clinics and offices, clinical laboratories, physicians, naturopaths, chiropractors, pharmacists, dentists, registered and other nurses, and nurse practitioners, paramedics, and emergency medical technicians.
2 Communicable Disease; Administration of Certain Prescription Medication for Treatment or Prevention of a Communicable Disease. Amend RSA 141-C:15-a to read as follows:
141-C:15-a Administration of Certain Prescription Medication for Treatment or Prevention of a Communicable Disease.
I. Notwithstanding the provisions of RSA 326-B:2, I-a, and RSA 329:1-c, a health care professional authorized to prescribe prescription medication for the treatment or prevention of a communicable disease may prescribe, dispense, or distribute directly or by standing order, [an antimicrobial medication] drugs to a patient he or she did not evaluate and with whom there is no established health care provider-patient relationship to empirically treat for, or provide an immunizing agent or prophylaxis to prevent, a communicable disease that poses a threat to public health. Any such prescription shall be regarded as being issued for a legitimate medical purpose and in accordance with established clinical practice guidelines, when available.
II. Communicable diseases that pose a threat to public health for the purposes of paragraph I shall be limited to the following:
(a) Bordetella pertussis, Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhea, and Neisseria meningitis; or
(b) Diseases that constitute an immediate threat to public health and for which the commissioner, or designee, has declared a public health incident under RSA 508:17-a or issues clinical guidance that requests providers to consider prescribing, dispensing, or distributing [antimicrobial] immunizing agents or drugs under paragraph I in order to control a disease outbreak.
III. No health care professional who, acting in good faith and with reasonable care, prescribes, dispenses, or distributes an [antimicrobial medication] immunizing agent or drug for the treatment or prevention of a communicable disease as described in paragraph I, shall be subject to any criminal or civil liability, or any professional disciplinary action, for any action authorized by this section or any outcome resulting from an action authorized by this section.
3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.