Evidence status: DOCUMENTED LEGISLATIVE ORIGIN. North Dakota’s WSI chronic-opioid treatment-agreement requirement was created by the 2015 Legislative Assembly after a workers’ compensation review process focused on long-term opioid therapy.

2014 review recommendation

Before enactment, a workers’ compensation performance review recommended that WSI require pain-management contracts for injured workers receiving opioid therapy beyond 90 days, together with random drug screening and continued documentation of benefit.

WSI’s response to the review stated that it would pursue legislation requiring the treating provider to initiate a pain contract for injured workers on chronic opioid therapy and provide monitoring of opioid effectiveness.

2015 Senate Bill 2060

Senate Bill 2060 created the statutory chronic-opioid coverage section now codified at N.D.C.C. §65-05-39. The enacted language made a treatment agreement between the injured employee and prescriber a condition of payment for chronic opioid therapy and required the agreement to restrict treatment access to one identified prescriber, subject to limited clinic coverage and pain-specialist referral.

WSI implementation

WSI’s Chronic Opioid Therapy policy lists an effective date of August 1, 2015 and continues to implement the statutory framework publicly.

Why legislative origin matters

The agreement requirement is not merely an internal clinic custom or an informal WSI form. Its core obligation is written into North Dakota statute. Removing the statutory requirement therefore requires legislative amendment of §65-05-39, even if WSI can separately revise nonstatutory implementation policies.

Sources

Reviewed: October 5, 2026.