Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that establishes new restrictions on pain management clinics.

Highlights:

• Requires all pain management clinics to be owned by a physician licensed in the State of Georgia (Sec. 2).

• Defines “pain management clinics” as places of medical practice that (Sec. 2):
• Advertise the treatment of pain;
• Use “pain” in the name of the clinic; or
• Treat 50 percent or more of its patients for chronic pain with controlled substances.

• Defines “chronic pain” as physical pain treated for a period of 90 days or more in a year, but does not include pain immediately preceding or following a surgery (Sec. 2).

• Specifies that a person who operates an unlicensed pain management clinic is guilty of a felony (Sec. 2).

• Exempts pain management clinics that were in existence prior to June 30, 2012, from the requirement to be owned by a physician, and authorizes the ownership of such clinics by physician assistants or registered nurses (Sec. 2).

• Authorizes law enforcement officers and coroners to send notice and evidence to the Georgia Composite Medical Board upon discovering a death that may be a result of medication prescribed at a pain management clinic or a procedure performed at a pain management clinic (Secs. 2 & 3).

• Expands the authority of the Georgia Composite Medical Board to regulate pain management clinics through the following mechanisms (Secs. 1 & 2):
• Licensing pain management clinics;
• Establishing minimum standards for prescribing pain killers; and
• Establishing minimum standards for continuing education for physicians owning or working in a pain management clinic.

Full Bill Text