Key Votes
HB 972 - Regulation of Pain Management Clinics - Key Vote
Georgia Key Votes
Stages
Family
Issues
Stage Details
Legislation - Bill Passed (Senate) (49-3) - March 27, 2012
Legislation - Bill Passed (House) (124-38) - March 5, 2012 (Key vote)
Title: Regulation of Pain Management Clinics
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.
Legislation - Introduced (House) - Feb. 15, 2012
Title: Regulation of Pain Management Clinics
Sponsors
- Thomas 'Tommy' Benton (GA - R)
- Matt Dollar (GA - R)
- Roger B. Lane (GA - R) (Out Of Office)
- Butch Parrish (GA - R)
- Ron Stephens (GA - R)
- Thomas Darrell 'Tom' Weldon Jr. (GA - R)
