(1)(a) A practitioner may prescribe, dispense, distribute, and deliver an opioid overdose reversal medication: (i) Directly to a person at risk of experiencing an opioid-related overdose; or (ii) by prescription, collaborative drug therapy agreement, standing order, or protocol to a first responder, family member, or other person or entity in a position to assist a person at risk of experiencing an opioid-related overdose. Any such prescription, standing order, or protocol is issued for a legitimate medical purpose in the usual course of professional practice.
(b) At the time of prescribing, dispensing, distributing, or delivering the opioid overdose reversal medication, the practitioner shall inform the recipient that as soon as possible after administration of the opioid overdose reversal medication, the person at risk of experiencing an opioid-related overdose should be transported to a hospital or a first responder should be summoned.
(2) A pharmacist may dispense an opioid overdose reversal medication pursuant to a prescription, collaborative drug therapy agreement, standing order, or protocol issued in accordance with subsection (1)(a) of this section and may administer an opioid overdose reversal medication to a person at risk of experiencing an opioid-related overdose. At the time of dispensing an opioid overdose reversal medication, a pharmacist shall provide written instructions on the proper response to an opioid-related overdose, including instructions for seeking immediate medical attention. The instructions to seek immediate medical attention must be conspicuously displayed.
(3) Any person or entity may lawfully possess, store, deliver, distribute, or administer an opioid overdose reversal medication pursuant to a prescription, collaborative drug therapy agreement, standing order, or protocol issued by a practitioner in accordance with subsection (1) of this section.
(4) The following individuals, if acting in good faith and with reasonable care, are not subject to criminal or civil liability or disciplinary action under chapter
18.130 RCW for any actions authorized by this section or the outcomes of any actions authorized by this section:
(a) A practitioner who prescribes, dispenses, distributes, or delivers an opioid overdose reversal medication pursuant to subsection (1) of this section;
(b) A pharmacist who dispenses an opioid overdose reversal medication pursuant to subsection (2) or (5)(a) of this section;
(c) A person who possesses, stores, distributes, or administers an opioid overdose reversal medication pursuant to subsection (3) of this section.
(5) The secretary or the secretary's designee may issue a standing order prescribing opioid overdose reversal medications to any person at risk of experiencing an opioid-related overdose or any person or entity in a position to assist a person at risk of experiencing an opioid-related overdose. The standing order may be limited to specific areas in the state or issued statewide.
(a) A pharmacist shall dispense an opioid overdose reversal medication pursuant to a standing order issued in accordance with this subsection, consistent with the pharmacist's responsibilities to dispense prescribed legend drugs, and may administer an opioid overdose reversal medication to a person at risk of experiencing an opioid-related overdose. At the time of dispensing an opioid overdose reversal medication, a pharmacist shall provide written instructions on the proper response to an opioid-related overdose, including instructions for seeking immediate medical attention. The instructions to seek immediate medical attention must be conspicuously displayed.
(b) Any person or entity may lawfully possess, store, deliver, distribute, or administer an opioid overdose reversal medication pursuant to a standing order issued in accordance with this subsection (5). The department, in coordination with the appropriate entity or entities, shall ensure availability of a training module that provides training regarding the identification of a person suffering from an opioid-related overdose and the use of opioid overdose reversal medications. The training must be available electronically and in a variety of media from the department.
(c) This subsection (5) does not create a private cause of action. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, neither the state nor the secretary nor the secretary's designee has any civil liability for issuing standing orders or for any other actions taken pursuant to this chapter or for the outcomes of issuing standing orders or any other actions taken pursuant to this chapter. Neither the secretary nor the secretary's designee is subject to any criminal liability or professional disciplinary action for issuing standing orders or for any other actions taken pursuant to this chapter.
(d) For purposes of this subsection (5), "standing order" means an order prescribing medication by the secretary or the secretary's designee. Such standing order can only be issued by a practitioner as defined in this chapter.
(6) The labeling requirements of RCW
69.41.050 and
18.64.246 do not apply to opioid overdose reversal medications dispensed, distributed, or delivered pursuant to a prescription, collaborative drug therapy agreement, standing order, or protocol issued in accordance with this section. The individual or entity that dispenses, distributes, or delivers an opioid overdose reversal medication as authorized by this section shall ensure that directions for use are provided.
(7) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
(a) "First responder" means: (i) A career or volunteer firefighter, law enforcement officer, paramedic as defined in RCW
18.71.200, or first responder or emergency medical technician as defined in RCW
18.73.030; and (ii) an entity that employs or supervises an individual listed in (a)(i) of this subsection, including a volunteer fire department.
(b) "Opioid overdose reversal medication" means any drug used to reverse an opioid overdose that binds to opioid receptors and blocks or inhibits the effects of opioids acting on those receptors. It does not include intentional administration via the intravenous route.
(c) "Opioid-related overdose" means a condition including, but not limited to, decreased level of consciousness, nonresponsiveness, respiratory depression, coma, or death that: (i) Results from the consumption or use of an opioid or another substance with which an opioid was combined; or (ii) a lay person would reasonably believe to be an opioid-related overdose requiring medical assistance.
(d) "Practitioner" means a health care practitioner who is authorized under RCW
69.41.030 to prescribe legend drugs.
(e) "Standing order" or "protocol" means written or electronically recorded instructions, prepared by a prescriber, for distribution and administration of a drug by designated and trained staff or volunteers of an organization or entity, as well as other actions and interventions to be used upon the occurrence of clearly defined clinical events in order to improve patients' timely access to treatment.
Intent—2015 c 205: "(1) The legislature intends to reduce the number of lives lost to drug overdoses by encouraging the prescription, dispensing, and administration of opioid overdose medications.
(2) Overdoses of opioids, such as heroin and prescription painkillers, cause brain injury and death by slowing and eventually stopping a person's breathing. Since 2012, drug poisoning deaths in the United States have risen six percent, and deaths involving heroin have increased a staggering thirty-nine percent. In Washington state, the annual number of deaths involving heroin or prescription opiates increased from two hundred fifty-eight in 1995 to six hundred fifty-one in 2013. Over this period, a total of nine thousand four hundred thirty-nine people died from opioid-related drug overdoses. Opioid-related drug overdoses are a statewide phenomenon.
(3) When administered to a person experiencing an opioid-related drug overdose, an opioid overdose medication can save the person's life by restoring respiration. Increased access to opioid overdose medications reduced the time between when a victim is discovered and when he or she receives lifesaving assistance. Between 1996 and 2010, lay people across the country reversed over ten thousand overdoses.
(4) The legislature intends to increase access to opioid overdose medications by permitting health care practitioners to administer, prescribe, and dispense, directly or by collaborative drug therapy agreement or standing order, opioid overdose medication to any person who may be present at an overdose - law enforcement, emergency medical technicians, family members, or service providers - and to permit those individuals to possess and administer opioid overdose medications prescribed by an authorized health care provider." [
2015 c 205 § 1.]
