Committee Approves Bill To Regulate Pain Clinics

{Frankfort, Kentucky}...The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 7-2 Tuesday, approving a bill by Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, after one change. The bill would transfer oversight of the state's prescription monitoring system, or KASPER, from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to the attorney general's office. It requires doctors to report pain pill prescriptions within 24-hours starting July 1, 2013. It does not charge health care providers a fee for using the system. The bill allows only physicians to own pain management clinics. Stumbo says the move is necessary to make the monitoring system a more efficient investigative tool.