Updated regulations pertaining to the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) became effective on August 15, 2022. The regulations revise and add to the CURES access and use regulations that took effect on July 1, 2020. The approved regulations and a bulletin summarizing the important and substantive changes can be found on the Office of the Attorney General’s CURES website.

The California Department of Justice (DOJ) will release the optimized Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) on April 11, 2022. Please refer to the DOJ guidance document "New Optimized Cures Being Released On 4/11/2022" for important information on new features of the optimized CURES, supported web browsers, and planned system downtime from Friday, April 8, 2022 at 5:00 PM, through Monday, April 11, 2022 at 8:00 AM.

In addition, CURES optimization will provide expanded Delegate functionality, through which Delegates will be authorized to directly access data in CURES. Practitioners currently utilizing a Delegate must enter into a new Delegate Agreement in order for their Delegate to have continued access to CURES beginning April 11, 2022. New Delegates may also be added via Delegate Agreement. For information about the Delegate access, please refer to the Quick Reference Guide which includes Delegate Agreement samples, and the DOJ guidance document "New Features and Requirements for Expanded Delegate Access."

As part of the transition to optimized CURES, beginning on April 11, 2022 please refer to the DOJ guidance document "First Time Login to the New Optimized CURES."

If you have any questions about optimized CURES, Delegate Access, or browser accessibility, contact the CURES Program at cures@doj.ca.gov or (916) 210-3187.

Licensees of the Board of Registered Nursing with prescribing authority are subject to the e-prescribing requirements established by Assembly Bill (AB) 2789 (Wood, 2018). Beginning January 1, 2022, most prescriptions (including but not limited to prescriptions for controlled substances) issued by a licensed healthcare practitioner to a California pharmacy must be submitted electronically. For more information on this law and its requirements, please see the AB 2789 bulletin. Practitioners also can get answers to questions about complying with the law at Electronic Data Transmission Prescriptions (E-Prescriptions) – Frequently Asked Questions provided by the California State Board of Pharmacy.

Effective April 1, 2021, the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) fee will increase from $6 to $11 annually for a period of two years. The increase will be applied to licenses expiring after July 1, 2021, and is assessed at the time of license renewal on specified licensees of the Board of Registered Nursing that prescribe, order, administer, furnish, or dispense Schedule II, Schedule III, Schedule IV, or Schedule V controlled substances.

Most licensees will see a $22 CURES Fee due to the biennial renewal cycle. The fee covers the reasonable regulatory costs of the Department of Justice for operating and maintaining CURES, a critical element in the state’s effort to address the growing danger of opioid addiction stemming from prescription drug abuse.

For more information about CURES, visit: https://oag.ca.gov/cures.