AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE DEFINITION OF THE PATIENT-PRACTITIONER RELATIONSHIP.

This Act is a substitute for Senate Bill No. 101. It makes no substantive changes to Senate Bill No. 101 other than substituting the synopsis language from the prior bill for the new synopsis, as follows: This Act resolves a conflict between the Uniform Controlled Substances Act which requires an in-person examination to prescribe controlled substances for treatment of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and Delaware's telehealth regulations, the Telehealth Access Act which does not require an in-person examination. This bill connects and clarifies the two regulations by modifying the "patient-practitioner relationship" definition in Chapter 47, Title 16, the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, to include a practitioner treating OUD via telemedicine with Schedule III through V medication. The guardrails included in this short addition include: limiting the medication to only Schedule III through V, which has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of OUD and citing to the thorough requirements for establishing a provider-patient relationship under Section 6003 of Title 24, the 2021 Telehealth Access Act, which addresses requirements such as standard of care, medical record keeping, consent, and medical board oversight.