53-10-308 - Release of confidential information.
53-10-308. Release of confidential information.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this part to the contrary, the committee may release confidential information from the database regarding practitioners, patients, or both, to a manager of any investigations or prosecution unit of a board, committee, or other governing body that licenses practitioners and is engaged in any investigation, an adjudication, or a prosecution of a violation under any state or federal law that involves a controlled substance.
(b) Before the committee releases confidential information under this section, the applicant must petition the committee for the confidential information, particularly describe the information required, and demonstrate to the committee that the applicant has reason to believe that a violation under any state or federal law that involves a controlled substance has occurred and that the requested information is reasonably related to the investigation, adjudication, or prosecution of the violation.
(c) No information may be released under this section until it has been reviewed by the committee, including a member of the committee who is licensed in the same profession as the prescribing or dispensing practitioner identified by the data, and until the committee, including that member, has certified that further investigation or prosecution is warranted and that release of the information is necessary to that continued investigation or prosecution.
[Acts 2002, ch. 840, § 1.]