Prescribing & Controlled Substance Management [TM-05-EN]

Prescribing & Controlled Substance Management [TM-05-EN]

The rapid expansion of telemedicine has created a critical regulatory gap: remote prescribers operating across jurisdictional boundaries frequently encounter controlled substance frameworks that differ substantially from those governing in-person practice, and errors in this domain carry consequences ranging from licence suspension to criminal liability. The WHO Global Benchmarks for Health Services and the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) guidelines both emphasise that the therapeutic legitimacy and safety of controlled substance prescribing must not be diminished by the modality of care delivery. In Georgia and the broader South Caucasus region, where telemedicine regulation is still maturing under the framework established by the Law of Georgia on Health Care and successive Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs decrees, practitioners face an especially dynamic compliance environment. This course addresses that gap directly, providing the structured knowledge and decision-making tools needed to prescribe lawfully and safely in remote care settings.

The curriculum is grounded in INCB guidelines on the availability and rational use of controlled substances, WHO essential medicines policy, and Joint Commission International (JCI) medication management standards, with reference to Georgian national pharmaceutical legislation and regional EMCDDA data on prescription opioid trends in Eastern Europe. Instruction employs a case-based learning methodology in which participants analyse realistic telemedicine encounters, apply regulatory decision trees, and evaluate documentation against audit-ready standards — moving beyond declarative knowledge toward transferable clinical reasoning.

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Distinguish the legal thresholds and prescriber authorisation requirements that apply to Schedule I–IV controlled substances under Georgian national law and comparable international scheduling frameworks, and correctly classify a given substance before initiating a prescription.
• Implement a structured pre-prescription verification protocol — covering patient identity, prior authorisation, and prescription drug monitoring programme (PDMP) checks — adapted specifically for remote clinical encounters.
• Construct documentation that satisfies medical necessity standards for controlled substance prescribing, including the clinical indicators, risk stratification findings, and treatment goals required to withstand regulatory or medicolegal review.
• Apply jurisdiction-specific rules governing telemedicine prescribing of opioids, benzodiazepines, and stimulants, including mandatory in-person examination requirements and cross-border prescribing prohibitions where they exist.
• Evaluate patient-level risk factors for controlled substance misuse using validated instruments — including the Opioid Risk Tool (ORT) and the CAGE-AID questionnaire — and integrate findings into prescribing decisions within a remote consultation workflow.
• Design an institutional compliance framework for a telemedicine service that includes staff role delineation, audit triggers, incident reporting pathways, and periodic review procedures aligned with JCI Medication Management and Use standards.

Who Should Attend

This course is designed for licensed physicians, nurse practitioners, and clinical pharmacists who prescribe or review controlled substances within telemedicine or hybrid care models, including those working in primary care, pain management, addiction medicine, and psychiatry. Healthcare administrators, compliance officers, and legal advisers responsible for telemedicine governance will also find the regulatory and institutional content directly applicable to their oversight functions. The course is particularly relevant for practitioners in Georgia and the South Caucasus who must navigate a period of active legislative change while maintaining uninterrupted, safe patient care.

Course Structure

This fully online, self-paced course requires approximately six to eight hours of study, comprising video lectures, annotated case simulations, and regulatory reference materials, and concludes with a scenario-based assessment requiring a minimum score of 75 percent for completion. Participants who successfully complete the course receive a GMJ Academy certificate of completion eligible for submission toward CME/CPD credit recognition in accordance with applicable national medical association requirements.