54-1727. CONFIDENTIALITY OF PRESCRIPTIONS AND PATIENT INFORMATION. (1) All prescriptions, drug orders, records or any other prescription information that specifically identifies an individual patient shall be held in the strictest confidence. No person in possession of such information shall release the information, unless requested as follows:

(a) By the board, or its representatives, acting in their official capacity;

(b) By the patient, or the patient’s designee, regarding the patient’s own records;

(c) By the practitioner, or the practitioner’s designee, who issued the prescription;

(d) By other licensed health care professionals who are responsible for the direct and acute care of the patient;

(e) By agents of the department of health and welfare when acting in their official capacity with reference to issues related to the practice of pharmacy (written requests by authorized agents of the department requesting such information are required);

(f) By agents of any board whose practitioners have prescriptive authority, when the board is enforcing laws governing that practitioner;

(g) By an agency of government charged with the responsibility for providing medical care for the patient (written requests by authorized agents of the agency requesting such information are required);

(h) By the federal food and drug administration (FDA), for purposes relating to monitoring of adverse drug events in compliance with the requirements of federal law, rules or regulations adopted by the federal food and drug administration;

(i) By the patient’s authorized insurance benefit provider or health plan providing health care coverage or pharmacy benefits to the patient.

(j) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit consultations between health care professionals who are involved in the diagnosis, care and treatment of the patient.

(k) Nothing in this section shall prohibit insurance companies and health plans from sharing patient specific information with law enforcement authorities or any of the entities identified in subsections (1)(a) through (i) of this section, in cases of suspected fraud and substance abuse.

(l) Nothing in this section shall prohibit disclosure of patient specific information to law enforcement authorities pursuant to a search warrant, subpoena, or other court order.

(2) Nothing in this section shall prevent the pharmacist or others from providing aggregate or other data, which does not identify the patient to qualified researchers, including pharmaceutical manufacturers, for purposes of clinical, pharmacoepidemiological, or pharmacoeconomic research.

(3) Any person who has knowledge by virtue of his office or occupation of any prescription drug order, record, or pharmacy related information that specifically identifies an individual patient shall not divulge such information except as authorized in subsections (1) and (2) of this section. Any person or entity to whom information is divulged pursuant to subsection (1) of this section shall not divulge such information except in compliance with this section.

(4) Nothing in this section shall limit the authority of the board or its representatives from inspecting the records of pharmacies or pharmacists or the authority of any other board with licensees who have prescriptive authority from performing any other duty or authority of that board, nor shall this section limit a court of competent jurisdiction from ordering the release or disclosure of such records upon a showing of just cause after such review or hearing as the court deems necessary and proper. This section shall not limit the authority of any other board or agency to inspect records of persons it regulates, notwithstanding that the records may contain information protected by the provisions of this section.

(5) In addition to all other penalties as provided by law, any person or entity found by the board to be in violation of the provisions of this section shall be subject to an administrative penalty not to exceed three thousand dollars ($3,000) for each violation.

(6) No person shall be liable, nor shall a cause of action exist, for any loss or damage based upon the proper good faith release of records pursuant to the provisions of subsection (1) or (2) of this section.

History:

[54-1727, added 2000, ch. 189, sec. 1, p. 465; am. 2007, ch. 140, sec. 1, p. 405.]