CHAPTER 126-A DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Controlled Drug Prescription Health and Safety Program
Section 126-A:93
126-A:93 Providing Controlled Drug Prescription Health and Safety Information. –
I. The commissioner may authorize designated program staff to provide information in the prescription health and safety program upon request only to the following persons:
(a) By electronic or written request to prescribers, dispensers, and the chief medical examiner and delegates within the state who are registered with the program:
(1) For the purpose of providing medical or pharmaceutical care to a specific patient with whom the requester has a practitioner-patient relationship. This shall not include department staff seeking to access the program for state, federal or private agency purposes, or on behalf of the department or other requesting agency;
(2) For reviewing information regarding prescriptions issued or dispensed or for conducting medication reconciliation by the requester;
(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.
(b) By written request, to:
(1) A patient who requests his or her own prescription monitoring information.
(2) The board of dentistry, the board of medicine, the board of nursing, the board of registration in optometry, the board of podiatry, the board of veterinary medicine, and the pharmacy board; provided, however, that the request is pursuant to the boards' official duties and responsibilities and the disclosures to each board relate only to its licensees and only with respect to those licensees whose prescribing or dispensing activities indicate possible fraudulent conduct.
(3) Authorized law enforcement officials on a case-by-case basis for the purpose of investigation and prosecution of a criminal offense when presented with a court order based on probable cause. No law enforcement agency or official shall have direct access to query program information.
(4) [Repealed.]
(c) By electronic or written request on a case-by-case basis to:
(1) A controlled prescription drug health and safety program from another state; provided, that there is an agreement in place with the other state to ensure that the information is used or disseminated pursuant to the requirements of this state.
(2) An entity that operates a secure interstate prescription drug data exchange system for the purpose of interoperability and the mutual secure exchange of information among prescription drug monitoring programs, provided that there is an agreement in place with the entity to ensure that the information is used or disseminated pursuant to the requirements of this state.
II. The commissioner or program staff authorized by the commissioner shall notify the appropriate regulatory board listed in subparagraph I(b)(2) and the prescriber or dispenser at such regular intervals as may be established by the department if there is reasonable cause to believe a violation of law or breach of professional standards may have occurred. The commissioner or program staff authorized by the commissioner shall provide prescription information required or necessary for an investigation.
III. The commissioner or program staff authorized by the commissioner shall review the information to identify information that appears to indicate whether a person may be obtaining prescriptions in a manner that may represent misuse or abuse of schedule II-IV controlled substances. When such information is identified, the commissioner or program staff authorized by the commissioner shall notify the practitioner who prescribed the prescription.
IV. The commissioner shall make a report, at least annually, commencing on November 1, 2021, to the senate president, the speaker of the house of representatives, the oversight committee on health and human services, established in RSA 126-A:13, the advisory council established in RSA 126-A:96 and the licensing boards of all professions required to use the program relative to the effectiveness of the program.
Source. 2021, 91:45, eff. July 1, 2021; 148:9, 10, eff. July 1, 2021. 2023, 140:3, eff. Aug. 29, 2023.