(a) The University of Connecticut Health Center shall, in consultation with the Yale University School of Medicine, develop, implement and promote an evidence-based outreach and education program concerning the therapeutic and cost-effective utilization of prescription drugs for the benefit of licensed physicians, pharmacists and other health care professionals authorized to prescribe and dispense prescription drugs. In developing such program, The University of Connecticut Health Center shall consider whether such program may be developed in coordination with, or as a part of, the Connecticut Area Health Education Center.

(b) The program established pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall: (1) Arrange for licensed physicians, pharmacists and nurses to conduct in person educational visits with prescribing practitioners, utilizing evidence-based materials, borrowing methods from behavioral science and educational theory and, when appropriate, utilizing pharmaceutical industry data and outreach techniques; (2) inform prescribing practitioners about drug marketing that is designed to prevent competition to brand name drugs from generic or other therapeutically equivalent pharmaceutical alternatives or other evidence-based treatment options; and (3) provide outreach and education to licensed physicians and other health care practitioners who are participating providers in state-funded health care programs, including, but not limited to, Medicaid, the HUSKY Health program, the Department of Correction inmate health services program and the state employees' health insurance plan.

(c) The University of Connecticut Health Center shall, to the extent feasible, utilize or incorporate into the program other independent educational resources or models that are proven to be effective in disseminating high quality, evidenced-based, cost-effective information to prescribing practitioners regarding the effectiveness and safety of prescription drugs. Such other resources or models that The University of Connecticut Health Center reviews shall include: (1) The Pennsylvania PACE Independent Drug Information Service affiliated with the Harvard Medical School; (2) the Vermont Academic Detailing Program sponsored by the University of Vermont College of Medicine Office of Primary Care; and (3) the Drug Effectiveness Review project conducted by the Oregon Health and Science University Evidence-based Practice Center.

(d) The University of Connecticut Health Center shall seek federal funds for the administration of the program. In addition, The University of Connecticut Health Center may seek funding from nongovernmental health access foundations for the program. The University of Connecticut Health Center shall not be required to develop, implement and promote the program described in this section, if federal, state and private funds in the aggregate are insufficient to pay for the initial and ongoing expenses of such program.

(P.A. 09-232, S. 91; P.A. 11-44, S. 124; P.A. 13-234, S. 90; P.A. 15-69, S. 4.)

History: P.A. 09-232 effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 11-44 amended Subsec. (b) by deleting “the state-administered general assistance program”, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 13-234 amended Subsec. (b)(3) to delete references to Charter Oak Health Plan and ConnPACE program, effective January 1, 2014; P.A. 15-69 amended Subsec. (b) to change “HUSKY Plan, Parts A and B” to “HUSKY Health program”, effective June 19, 2015.