AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO EXPEDITED PARTNER THERAPY.

Expedited partner therapy (EPT) is the clinical practice of treating the sex partners of patients diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease without clinical assessment of the partners. In August 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended EPT as an evidence-based option to manage chlamydial infection and gonorrhea by treating index patient’s sex partners to prevent reinfection and curtail further transmission. As of July 2017, EPT is permissible in 41 states. This Act makes EPT clearly permissible in Delaware and requires that health care professionals provide information developed by the Department of Health & Social Services when providing EPT. This Act provides immunity to health care practitioners and pharmacists acting in compliance with the statute and also provides immunity to health care practitioners who do not provide EPT and pharmacists who do not fill a prescription written under this statute if doing so would violate any of the laws that govern pharmacies and pharmacists. This Act also makes technical corrections to the definitions section to correct a reference and to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.