NC H93

Health care practitioners prescribing Schedule II opioids must provide education on opioid antagonists (overdose reversal drugs) when the prescription dose is 50 or more morphine milligram equivalents per day, is concurrent with benzodiazepines, or the patient has overdose history or substance use disorder.

Practitioners must offer a prescription for a Food and Drug Administration-approved opioid antagonist after providing education to patients and to at least one person designated by the patient, or to a minor's parent or guardian.

Pharmacists dispensing Schedule II opioids meeting the criteria must ask if the patient has an opioid antagonist prescription, offer to dispense one under a statewide standing order, and communicate the interaction details to the prescriber within 72 hours.

Veterinarians, animal hospitals, veterinary practices, hospice care providers, and palliative care providers are excluded from these requirements.

The law becomes effective October 1, 2021, and does not create private rights of action against practitioners or limit liability for negligent diagnosis or treatment.