Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HB5148

HB5148 Engrossed LRB104 17903 RLC 31339 b

AN ACT concerning criminal law.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Illinois Controlled Substances Act is amended by changing Section 314.5 as follows:

(720 ILCS 570/314.5)

Sec. 314.5. Medication shopping; pharmacy shopping.

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally to fraudulently obtain or fraudulently seek to obtain any controlled substance or prescription for a controlled substance from a prescriber or dispenser while being supplied with any controlled substance or prescription for a controlled substance by another prescriber or dispenser, without disclosing the fact of the existing controlled substance or prescription for a controlled substance to the prescriber or dispenser from whom the subsequent controlled substance or prescription for a controlled substance is sought.

(b) It shall be unlawful for a person knowingly or intentionally to fraudulently obtain or fraudulently seek to obtain any controlled substance from a pharmacy while being supplied with any controlled substance by another pharmacy, without disclosing the fact of the existing controlled substance to the pharmacy from which the subsequent controlled substance is sought.

(c) A person may be in violation of Section 3.23 of the Illinois Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act or Section 406 of this Act when medication shopping or pharmacy shopping, or both.

(c-5) Each Effective January 1, 2018, each prescriber possessing an Illinois controlled substances license shall register with the Prescription Monitoring Program. A prescriber is not subject to criminal liability or professional discipline for failure to register with the Prescription Monitoring Program due to technological or electrical failures or operational issues that prevent registration. Notwithstanding any provision of this Act to the contrary, beginning on and after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 101st General Assembly, a licensed veterinarian shall be exempt from registration and prohibited from accessing patient information in the Prescription Monitoring Program. Licensed veterinarians that are existing registrants shall be removed from the Prescription Monitoring Program. Each prescriber or the prescriber's his or her designee shall also document an attempt to access patient information in the Prescription Monitoring Program to assess patient access to controlled substances when providing an initial prescription for any stimulant substances listed in Schedule II and all prescriptions an initial prescription for Schedule II opioids and Schedule IV benzodiazepine, narcotics such as opioids, except for prescriptions for oncology treatment or palliative care, or a 7-day or less supply provided by a hospital emergency department when treating a an acute, traumatic medical condition. This attempt to access shall be documented in the patient's medical record. The hospital shall facilitate the designation of a prescriber's designee for the purpose of accessing the Prescription Monitoring Program for services provided at the hospital.

(d) When a person has been identified as having 5 or more prescribers or 5 or more pharmacies, or both, that do not utilize a common electronic file as specified in Section 20 of the Pharmacy Practice Act for controlled substances within the course of a 6-month period, the Prescription Monitoring Program may issue an unsolicited report to the prescribers, dispensers, and their designees informing them of the potential medication shopping. If an unsolicited report is issued to a prescriber or prescribers, then the report must also be sent to the applicable dispensing pharmacy.

(e) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to create a requirement that any prescriber, dispenser, or pharmacist request any patient medication disclosure, report any patient activity, or prescribe or refuse to prescribe or dispense any medications.

(f) This Section shall not be construed to apply to inpatients or residents at hospitals or other institutions or to institutional pharmacies.

(g) Any patient feedback, including grades, ratings, or written or verbal statements, in opposition to a clinical decision that the prescription of a controlled substance is not medically necessary shall not be the basis of any adverse action, evaluation, or any other type of negative credentialing, contracting, licensure, or employment action taken against a prescriber or dispenser.

(Source: P.A. 101-414, eff. 8-16-19; 102-527, eff. 8-20-21.)