Bill Text - SB45 (2021)

Relative to the controlled drug prescription health and safety program.


Revision: Jan. 13, 2021, 9:15 a.m.

SB 45  - AS INTRODUCED

 

 

2021 SESSION

21-0834

10/05

 

SENATE BILL 45

 

AN ACT relative to the controlled drug prescription health and safety program.

 

SPONSORS: Sen. Giuda, Dist 2; Sen. Soucy, Dist 18; Sen. Carson, Dist 14; Sen. Prentiss, Dist 5; Rep. M. Pearson, Rock. 34; Rep. Marsh, Carr. 8; Rep. Merchant, Sull. 4

 

COMMITTEE: Health and Human Services

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

ANALYSIS

 

This bill authorizes the department of health and human services to access certain data and information from the controlled drug prescription health and safety program under certain circumstances.

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

21-0834

10/05

 

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

 

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty One

 

AN ACT relative to the controlled drug prescription health and safety program.

 

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

 

1  Statement of Intent.  The purpose and intent of this legislation is to improve the health and wellbeing of New Hampshire citizens by authorizing meaningful access by the department of health and human services to data, including identifiable patient-level data or information, from the office of professional licensure and certification, controlled drug prescription health and safety program, for public health purposes including, but not limited to, public health evaluation, coordination of health care, and for the delivery of critical services to address substance use disorders.

2  New Section; Department of Health and Human Services; Controlled Drug Prescription Health and Safety Program Information; Confidentiality.  Amend RSA 126-A by inserting after section 5-e the following new section:

126-A:5-f  Controlled Drug Prescription Health and Safety Program; Confidentiality.

I.  In this section "office" means the office of professional licensure and certification, established in RSA 310-A.

II.  Information and data obtained by the department from the office, including identifiable patient-level data or information, pursuant to RSA 318-B:34, is confidential, is not a public record or otherwise subject to disclosure under RSA 91-A, is not subject to discovery, subpoena, or other means of legal compulsion for release and shall not be shared with an agency or institution, except as provided in RSA 318-B:34, or under this section.

III.  The department, in consultation with the office, may release reports for analysis and evaluation, statistical analysis, public research, public policy, and educational purposes, provided that the information and the data within the reports is aggregated or otherwise de-identified.  No individual whose identifiable patient-level data or information was provided by the office to the department shall be contacted, or subject to any action, by the department, directly or indirectly, on the basis of such data or information.

IV.(a)  The department shall enter into one or more reciprocal data sharing agreements with the office to share prescription drug monitoring information for public health purposes including, but not limited to, public health evaluation, coordination of health care, and for the delivery of critical services to address substance use disorders.  The office shall receive any final analyses or reports made with shared data.  Any proposed data sharing agreement between the office and the department shall be reviewed by the advisory council for the controlled drug prescription health and safety program, established under RSA 318-B:38, which may make recommendations to the office.  The department may release studies with de-identified data, provided the release is authorized by the data sharing agreement.  The data sharing agreements shall include:

(1)  The specific purpose of sharing data;

(2)  A detailed description of the data sets that will be included;

(3)  The criteria and procedures for the development of data sets;

(4)  The criteria and procedures to ensure data security and destruction; and

(5)  A proposed time frame in which the data will be used.

(b)  Under no circumstances shall the data or information received by the department pursuant to this section be copied or released by the department to any other person or entity, unless the data or information is aggregated or otherwise de-identified.

3  Controlled Drug Prescription Health and Safety Program; Definitions.  Amend RSA 318-B:31, IV to read as follows:

IV.  "Dispenser" means a person or entity who is lawfully authorized to deliver a schedule II-IV controlled substance, and conduct medication reconciliation, but does not include:

(a)  A licensed hospital pharmacy under RSA 318 that dispenses less than a 48-hour supply of a schedule II-IV controlled substance from a hospital emergency department or that dispenses for administration in the hospital;

(b)  A practitioner, or other authorized person who administers such a substance;

(c)  A wholesale distributor of a schedule II-IV controlled substance or its analog;

(d)  A prescriber who dispenses less than a 48-hour supply of a schedule II-IV controlled substance from a hospital emergency department to a patient; [or]

(e)  A veterinarian who dispenses less than a 48-hour supply of a schedule II-IV controlled substance to a patient; or

(f)  A practitioner who neither prescribes nor dispenses and who is not actively working as a pharmacist within a New Hampshire licensed pharmacy licensed under RSA 318 or New Hampshire health care facility licensed under RSA 151.

4  Providing Controlled Drug Prescription Health and Safety Information.  Amend RSA 318-B:35, I(a)(2) and (3) to read as follows:

(2)  For reviewing information regarding prescriptions issued or dispensed by the requester; [or]

(3)  For the purpose of investigating the death of an individual; or

(4)  For the purpose of administering RSA 318:29-a, VI, RSA 326-B:36-a, RSA 329:13-b, and other participating health professional boards.

5  New Paragraphs; Controlled Drug Prescription Health and Safety Program; Confidentiality.  Amend RSA 318-B:34 by inserting after paragraph III the following new paragraphs:

IV.  The office may release identifiable patient-level data or information to the department of health and human services for public health purposes if the office authorizes the release of such data or information pursuant to a data sharing agreement between the office and the department.  Any such data sharing agreement shall be reviewed by the advisory council for the controlled drug prescription health and safety program established in RSA 318-B:38, which may make recommendations to the office.  The department may release studies with de-identified data, provided the release is authorized by the data sharing agreement.  The data sharing agreement shall include:

(a)  The specific purpose of sharing data;

(b)  A detailed description of the data sets that will be included;

(c)  The criteria and procedures for the development of data sets;

(d)  The criteria and procedures to ensure data security and destruction; and

(e)  A proposed time frame in which the data will be used.  Under no circumstances shall the data or information released to the department pursuant to this section be copied or released by the department to any other person or entity, unless the data or information is aggregated or otherwise de-identified.  

V.  The department of health and human services shall comply with RSA 318-B:32, III with respect to data or information received pursuant to paragraph IV.

6  Repeal.  RSA 318-B:35, I(b)(5), relative to a practitioner or consultant retained by the office of professional licensure and certification to review certain information, is repealed.

7  Effective Date.  This act shall take effect upon its passage.