Hawaii SB 956: RELATING TO PRESCRIPTION DRUGS.

Bill Text

THE SENATE
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025
STATE OF HAWAII
JAN 1 7 2025
S.B. NO. 56
A BILL FORAN ACT
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RELATING TO PRESCRIPTION DRUGS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that appropriate, timely
pain management is an integral part of ensuring high quality,
patient-centered health care. As the rising danger of opiates
became clear, the legislature acted to put guardrails in place
to protect patients from the harmful effects of overprescribing,
long-term use, and addiction. However, the legislature
recognizes the need to balance these protections with the need
for timely patient access to appropriate pain management.
Therefore there is a need to remove barriers to short-term
opiate prescriptions while maintaining protections against
overprescribing and patient misuse.
Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to allow a patient
seen in-person by another health care provider in the same
medical group as the prescribing physician to be prescribed an
opiate prescription for a three-day supply or less via
telehealth.
2025-0769 SB SMA.docx

Page 2
S.B. NO. 756
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SECTION 2. Section 453-1.3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
amended by amending subsection (c) to read as follows:
"(c) Treatment recommendations made via telehealth,
including issuing a prescription via electronic means, shall be
held to the same standards of appropriate practice as those in
traditional physician-patient settings that do not include
[+]an[+] in-person visit but in which prescribing is
appropriate, including on-call telephone encounters and
encounters for which a follow-up visit is arranged. Issuing a
prescription based solely on an online questionnaire is not
treatment for the purposes of this section and does not
constitute an acceptable standard of care. For the purposes of
prescribing opiates or certifying a patient for the medical use
of cannabis, a physician-patient relationship shall only be
established after an in-person consultation between the
prescribing physician and the patient[—]; provided that a
patient seen in-person by another health care provider in the
same medical group as the prescribing physician may be
prescribed an opiate prescription for a three-day supply or less
via telehealth."
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Page 3
S.B. NO. 9S6
1 SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed
2 and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
3 SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval;
4 provided that the amendments made to section 453-1.3, Hawaii
5 Revised Statutes, by section 2 of this Act shall not be repealed
6 when that section is reenacted on December 31, 2025, pursuant to
7 Act 107, Session Laws of Hawaii 2023.
2025-0769 SB SMA.docx
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S.B. NO. 9SC
Report Title:
Prescriptions; Opiates; Telehealth; Three-day Supply
Description:
Allows a patient seen in-person by another health care provider
in the same medical group as the prescribing physician to be
prescribed an opiate prescription for a three-day supply or less
via telehealth.
The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
2025-0769 SB SMA.docx