Currently, the Program has 46,300 patients, 950 doctors and 1,850 caregivers and, according to DOH Commissioner Dr. Shereef Elnahal, “These rules solidify key program reforms to ensure greater patient access to this effective therapy” and enable the DOH “to add conditions more rapidly, remove barriers for minors and increase supply of product available.”
The Rules codify already in-effect changes:
– reducing qualifying patients and caregivers registration fee from $200 to $100;
– making seniors and military veterans “$20 reduced registration fee” eligible ;
– increasing qualifying patients’ designated primary caregivers from 1 to 2;
– adding of 7 “debilitating medical conditions” including PTSD by statutory enactment and 6 new conditions (anxiety, chronic pain of visceral origin, chronic pain related to musculoskeletal disorders, migraines, Tourette syndrome, and Opioid Use Disorder) by DOH’s petition decision;
– allowing physicians to “opt out” of “public participating physicians’ list inclusion”;
– elevating Program to division status within the DOH; and
– adding oil-based (i.e., vape cartridges) medical marijuana to available list.