Senate Bill No. 370
(By Senators Tomblin, Mr. President, and Boley
By Request of the Executive)
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[Introduced February 15, 1995; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend chapter sixty-a of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding
thereto a new article, designated article nine, relating to
controlled substances monitoring and centralized reporting
to board of pharmacy or its designee; establishment of
program; purpose; reporting system requirements;
implementation; requirement for electronic reporting if
feasible; information required; confidentiality; access to
records; period of retention; legislative rules; and
criminal penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That chapter sixty-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by
adding thereto a new article, designated article nine, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 9. CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES MONITORING.
§60A-9-1. Short title.
This article shall be referred to as the controlled
substances monitoring act.
§60A-9-2. Establishment of program; purpose.
There is hereby established a controlled substances
monitoring act the purpose of which is to require the recordation
and retention in a single repository of information regarding the
prescribing, dispensing and consumption of certain controlled
substances.
§60A-9-3. Reporting system requirements; implementation; central
repository requirement.
(a) On or before the first day of January, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-six, the board of pharmacy shall implement a
program wherein a central repository is established and
maintained which shall contain such information as is required by
the provisions of this article regarding Schedule II and III
controlled substances prescriptions written or filled in this state. In implementing this program, the board of pharmacy shall
consult with the division of public safety, the licensing boards
of practitioners affected by this article and effected
practitioners.
(b) The program authorized by subsection (a) of this section
shall be designed to minimize inconvenience to patients,
prescribing practitioners and pharmacists while effectuating the
collection and storage of the required information. The board of
pharmacy shall allow reporting of the required information by
electronic data transfer where feasible, and where such is
infeasible, on reporting forms promulgated by the board of
pharmacy. The information required to be submitted by the
provisions of this article shall be required to be filed no more
frequently than once in a two-month period.
§60A-9-4. Required information.
Whenever a prescription is filled by a pharmacist or
pharmacy in this state for a controlled substance listed in the
provisions of section two hundred six or two hundred eight,
article two of this chapter, the pharmacist or pharmacy shall, in
a manner prescribed by the board of pharmacy, report to the board
of pharmacy the following information:
(1) The name, address, pharmacy prescription number and DEA
controlled substance registration number of the dispensing
pharmacy;
(2) The name and address of the person for whom the
prescription is written;
(3) The name, address and drug enforcement administration
controlled substances registration number of the practitioner
writing the prescription;
(4) The name and national drug code number of the Schedule
II or Schedule III controlled substance dispensed;
(5) The quantity and dosage of the Schedule II or Schedule
III controlled substance dispensed;
(6) The date the prescription was filled; and
(7) The number of refills, if any, authorized by the
prescription.
§60A-9-5. Confidentiality; limited access to records; period of
retention.
The information required by this article to be kept by the
board of pharmacy shall be confidential and shall be open to
inspection only by inspectors and agents of the board of
pharmacy, members of the division of public safety expressly authorized by the superintendent to have access to the
information, duly authorized agents of licensing boards of
practitioners authorized to prescribe Schedule II or Schedule III
controlled substances and persons with an enforceable court order
or regulatory agency administrative subpoena. The board shall
maintain the information required by this article for a period of
no less than five years. Notwithstanding any provisions of this
code, 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.
§60A-9-6. Promulgation of rules.
The board of pharmacy shall promulgate rules to effectuate
the purposes of this article in accordance with the provisions of
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.
§60A-9-7. Criminal penalties.
(a) Any person who is required to submit information to the
board of pharmacy pursuant to the provisions of this article who
fails to do so as directed by the board shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not
less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars.
(b) Any person who is required to submit information to the
board of pharmacy pursuant to the provisions of this article who
knowingly and willfully refuses to submit to the information
required by this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in a county or
regional jail not more than six months or fined not more than one
thousand dollars, or both.
(c) Any person who is required by the provisions of this
article to submit information to the board of pharmacy who
knowingly submits thereto information known to that person to be
false or fraudulent shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be confined in a county or regional
jail not more than one year or fined not more than five thousand
dollars, or both.
(d) Any person granted access to the information required by
the provisions of this article to be maintained by the board of
pharmacy, who shall willfully disclose the information required
to be maintained by this article in a manner inconsistent with a
legitimate law-enforcement purpose, a legitimate professional
regulatory purpose, the terms of a court order or as otherwise expressly authorized by the provisions of this article shall be
guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
confined in a county or regional jail for not more than six
months or fined not more than one thousand dollars, or both.
NOTE: This bill creates a central reporting system for
prescriptions of Schedule II and III controlled substances so
that licensing boards and law-enforcement agencies can
effectively monitor the improper prescription of such substances.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.