H. B. 3010
(By Delegates Perry, Hartman, Shook, Schoen,
Reynolds and Walters)
[Introduced March 10, 2009; referred to the
Committee on Government Organization then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §60A-9-5 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to granting designated employees of
the Insurance Commissioner access to certain information kept
by the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §60A-9-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9. CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE MONITORING.
§60A-9-5. Confidentiality; limited access to records; period of
retention; no civil liability for required reporting.
(a) The information required by this article to be kept by the
State Board of Pharmacy is confidential and is open to inspection
only by
the following persons:
(1) Inspectors and agents of the State Board of Pharmacy;
(2) Members of the West Virginia State Police expressly authorized by the Superintendent of the West Virginia State Police
to have access to the information;
(3) Authorized agents of local law-enforcement agencies as a
member of a drug task force;
(4) Authorized agents of the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration;
(5) Duly authorized agents of the Bureau for Medical Services;
and
The Workers' Compensation Commission (6) Duly authorized
personnel of the Insurance Fraud Unit in the Offices of the
Insurance Commissioner;
(7) Duly authorized agents of licensing boards of
practitioners in this state and other states authorized to
prescribe Schedules II, III and IV controlled substances;
(8) Prescribing practitioners and pharmacists; and
(9) Persons with an enforceable court order or regulatory
agency administrative subpoena.
Provided That all
(b) Any information released by the State Board of Pharmacy
must be related to a specific patient or a specific individual or
entity under investigation,
by any of the above parties except that
practitioners who prescribe controlled substances may request
specific data related to their Drug Enforcement Administration
controlled substance registration number or for the purpose of
providing treatment to a patient.
(c) The board shall maintain the information required by this
article for a period of not less than five years.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this code to the
contrary, data obtained under the provisions of this article may be
used for compilation of educational, scholarly or statistical
purposes as long as the identities of persons or entities remain
confidential.
(e) No individual or entity required to report under section
four of this article may be subject to a claim for civil damages or
other civil relief for the reporting of information to the Board of
Pharmacy as required under, and in accordance with, the provisions
of this article.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to permit designated
employees of the Insurance Commission's fraud unit to access
certain information maintained by the Board of Pharmacy.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.