SB 921 - This act establishes the Prescription Drug Monitoring Act. The Department of Health and Senior Services is required to establish and maintain a program to monitor the dispensing of all Schedule II through Schedule IV controlled substances in this state using an existing data aggregation platform through the State Data Center within the Office of Administration. The Department shall ensure the privacy and security of the personal information while only aggregating necessary and appropriate information related to the prescribing or dispensing of the prescription. The aggregated information from each dispenser data source shall remain segregated from any other data source. All submitted prescription information shall be kept confidential with specified exceptions. Beginning August 28, 2016, the Department shall discard the data obtained from prescription drug monitoring program one year from the date the data was obtained under this act. A person authorized to have dispensation monitoring information under this act who knowingly discloses such information or who uses such information in a manner and for a purpose in violation of this act is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
This act delineates the duties of both the dispenser and the Department for communicating in realtime when there is a prescription for a Schedule II through Schedule IV controlled substance. If the Department responds with a message that there was such a transaction within the day's supply limit, as determined by the Department, the pharmacy shall not dispense the medication before resolving the issue with the patient's physician or the department, or both. If the response is not timely and the transaction is concluded before a response by the Department, the dispenser may be required to assist law enforcement with an investigation.
The Department shall review the dispensation information and, if there is reasonable cause to believe a violation of law or breach of professional standards may have occurred, the Department shall notify the appropriate law enforcement or professional regulatory entity and provide dispensation information required for an investigation. If after staff review, it appears that there is reasonable cause to believe that a person has obtained a prescription fraudulently from more than one prescriber, the Department shall contact the prescribers and request copies of medical records concerning the prescriptions of concern. The prescribers shall provide the records, if possible, by fax or electronically. If after Department review of the provided records, it is clear that a person has obtained prescriptions under false pretenses, the entire matter shall be referred to the appropriate law enforcement or local prosecuting attorney for action.
The Department shall annually provide to the General Assembly a report as to the number of controlled substances dispensed, broken down by drug, the number of incidents of fraudulent prescriptions identified and any other pertinent information requested by the General Assembly.
ADRIANE CROUSE