S921-119

What This Bill Does

Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, to complete a study within three years on fentanyl and fentanyl-related testing in hospital emergency departments when patients are experiencing overdoses. The study must examine how often hospitals test, when they do not test, testing costs, benefits and risks for patients, training needs, privacy and security of protected health information, effects on the patient-clinician relationship, and barriers to implementation. Within nine months after the study, HHS/SAMHSA must issue guidance on whether emergency departments should use fentanyl testing routinely for overdose patients and how hospitals can educate clinicians about what routine drug tests actually screen for.

Who Benefits and How

Overdose patients, emergency department clinicians, hospital toxicology laboratories, addiction medicine teams, public health researchers, and families affected by fentanyl overdoses benefit from clearer evidence about when fentanyl testing improves care and future overdose-risk reduction. Hospitals get federal guidance on testing practices, training needs, privacy protections, and available federal resources.

Who Bears the Burden and How

HHS, SAMHSA, hospital emergency departments, emergency physicians, nurses, laboratory directors, and hospital privacy officers must support study data collection, evaluate costs and barriers, train staff if testing expands, and protect patients' health information. Fentanyl test manufacturers may see demand changes if guidance recommends broader testing.

Key Provisions

• Requires HHS/SAMHSA to study fentanyl and fentanyl-related testing in emergency departments within three years.
• Requires analysis of testing frequency, non-testing scenarios, costs, patient benefits and risks, staff training needs, privacy, and patient-clinician relationships.
• Requires recommendations on barriers to implementing fentanyl testing in hospital emergency departments.
• Requires HHS/SAMHSA guidance within nine months after the study on routine overdose testing and clinician awareness of drug-test panels.
• Defines hospital emergency department to include hospital emergency departments and independent freestanding emergency departments.