An Act To Require That Municipalities and Counties Recover the Cost of Opioid Antagonist Treatment from Repeat Recipients
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 30-A MRSA §3111 is enacted to read:
§ 3111. Recovering costs of opioid antagonists
1. Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings.
A. "Opioid antagonist" means naloxone hydrochloride or other similarly acting drug that is approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of an opioid overdose.
B. "Opioid-related drug overdose" has the same meaning as in Title 22, section 2353, subsection 1, paragraph C.
2. Reimbursement required. When a municipality or county or an agent of either administers an opioid antagonist to an individual experiencing an opioid-related drug overdose, the municipality or county or agent shall make all reasonable efforts to identify whether that individual has previously been administered an opioid antagonist. The municipality or county or agent shall make all reasonable efforts to recover the cost of the dose administered if it is not the first opioid antagonist administered to the individual.
3. Penalty. A municipality or county that violates this section is subject to a fine of $1,000 per incident. The Department of Health and Human Services shall enforce this section.
SUMMARY
This bill requires municipalities, counties and their agents, including contracted first responders, to recoup the cost of administering naloxone hydrochloride and other opioid antagonists from individuals to whom they administer those medications a 2nd or subsequent time.