                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

CRITERIA FOR INDICATORS OF MISUSE; DIRECTOR&#8217;S AUTHORITY TO DISCLOSE
INFORMATION; INTERVENTION (§ 54.1-2523.1)

A. The Director shall develop, in consultation with an advisory panel which
shall include representatives of the Boards of Medicine and Pharmacy, the
Department of Health, the Department of Medical Assistance Services, and the
Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, criteria for
indicators of unusual patterns of prescribing or dispensing of covered
substances by prescribers or dispensers and misuse of covered substances by
recipients and a method for analysis of data collected by the Prescription
Monitoring Program using the criteria for indicators of misuse to identify
unusual patterns of prescribing or dispensing of covered substances by
individual prescribers or dispensers or potential misuse of a covered substance
by a recipient. The Director, in consultation with the panel, shall annually
review controlled substance prescribing and dispensing patterns and shall (i)
make any necessary changes to the criteria for unusual patterns of prescribing
and dispensing required by this subsection and (ii) report any findings and
recommendations for best practices to the Joint Commission on Health Care by
November 1 of each year.

B. In cases in which analysis of data collected by the Prescription Monitoring
Program using the criteria for indicators of misuse indicates an unusual pattern
of prescribing or dispensing of a covered substance by an individual prescriber
or dispenser or potential misuse of a covered substance by a recipient, the
Director may, in addition to the discretionary disclosure of information
pursuant to § 54.1-2523:

   1. Disclose information about the unusual prescribing or dispensing of a
   covered substance by an individual prescriber or dispenser to the Enforcement
   Division of the Department of Health Professions; or

   2. Disclose information about the specific recipient to (i) the prescriber or
   prescribers who have prescribed a covered substance to the recipient for the
   purpose of intervention to prevent misuse of such covered substance or (ii) an
   agent who has completed the Virginia State Police Drug Diversion School
   designated by the Superintendent of State Police or designated by the chief
   law-enforcement officer of any county, city, or town or campus police
   department for the purpose of an investigation into possible drug diversion.

HISTORY: 2005, cc. 637, 678; 2012, cc. 21, 71; 2013, c. 739; 2016, c. 98; 2018,
cc. 190, 239.