54.1-2400.2 - Confidentiality of information obtained during an investigation or disciplinary proceeding; penalty.
§ 54.1-2400.2. Confidentiality of information obtained during aninvestigation or disciplinary proceeding; penalty.
A. Any reports, information or records received and maintained by any healthregulatory board in connection with possible disciplinary proceedings,including any material received or developed by a board during aninvestigation or proceeding, shall be strictly confidential. A board may onlydisclose such confidential information:
1. In a disciplinary proceeding before a board or in any subsequent trial orappeal of an action or order, or to the respondent in entering into aconfidential consent agreement under § 54.1-2400;
2. To regulatory authorities concerned with granting, limiting or denyinglicenses, certificates or registrations to practice a health profession,including the coordinated licensure information system, as defined in §54.1-3030;
3. To hospital committees concerned with granting, limiting or denyinghospital privileges if a final determination regarding a violation has beenmade;
4. Pursuant to an order of a court of competent jurisdiction for good causearising from extraordinary circumstances being shown;
5. To qualified personnel for bona fide research or educational purposes, ifpersonally identifiable information relating to any person is first deleted.Such release shall be made pursuant to a written agreement to ensurecompliance with this section; or
6. To the Health Practitioners' Monitoring Program within the Department ofHealth Professions in connection with health practitioners who apply to orparticipate in the Program.
B. In no event shall confidential information received, maintained ordeveloped by any board, or disclosed by the board to others, pursuant to thissection, be available for discovery or court subpoena or introduced intoevidence in any civil action. This section shall not, however, be construedto inhibit an investigation or prosecution under Article 1 (§ 18.2-247 etseq.) of Chapter 7 of Title 18.2.
C. Any claim of a physician-patient or practitioner-patient privilege shallnot prevail in any investigation or proceeding by any health regulatory boardacting within the scope of its authority. The disclosure, however, of anyinformation pursuant to this provision shall not be deemed a waiver of suchprivilege in any other proceeding.
D. This section shall not prohibit the Director of the Department of HealthProfessions, after consultation with the relevant health regulatory boardpresident or his designee, from disclosing to the Attorney General, or theappropriate attorney for the Commonwealth, investigatory information whichindicates a possible violation of any provision of criminal law, includingthe laws relating to the manufacture, distribution, dispensing, prescribingor administration of drugs, other than drugs classified as Schedule VI drugsand devices, by any individual regulated by any health regulatory board.
E. This section shall not prohibit the Director of the Department of HealthProfessions from disclosing matters listed in subdivision A 1, A 2, or A 3 of§ 54.1-2909; from making the reports of aggregate information and summariesrequired by § 54.1-2400.3; or from disclosing the information required to bemade available to the public pursuant to § 54.1-2910.1.
F. Whenever a complaint or report has been filed about a person licensed,certified, or registered by a health regulatory board, the source and thesubject of a complaint or report shall be provided information about theinvestigative and disciplinary procedures at the Department of HealthProfessions. Prior to interviewing a licensee who is the subject of acomplaint or report, or at the time that the licensee is first notified inwriting of the complaint or report, whichever shall occur first, the licenseeshall be provided with a copy of the complaint or report and any records orsupporting documentation, unless such provision would materially obstruct acriminal or regulatory investigation. If the relevant board concludes that adisciplinary proceeding will not be instituted, the board may send anadvisory letter to the person who was the subject of the complaint or report.The relevant board may also inform the source of the complaint or report (i)that an investigation has been conducted, (ii) that the matter was concludedwithout a disciplinary proceeding, (iii) of the process the board followed inmaking its determination, and (iv), if appropriate, that an advisory letterfrom the board has been communicated to the person who was the subject of thecomplaint or report. In providing such information, the board shall informthe source of the complaint or report that he is subject to the requirementsof this section relating to confidentiality and discovery.
G. Orders and notices of the health regulatory boards relating todisciplinary actions shall be disclosed. Information on the date and locationof any disciplinary proceeding, allegations against the respondent, and thelist of statutes and regulations the respondent is alleged to have violatedshall be provided to the source of the complaint or report by the relevantboard prior to the proceeding. The source shall be notified of thedisposition of a disciplinary case.
H. This section shall not prohibit investigative staff authorized under §54.1-2506 from interviewing fact witnesses, disclosing to fact witnesses theidentity of the subject of the complaint or report, or reviewing with factwitnesses any portion of records or other supporting documentation necessaryto refresh the fact witnesses' recollection.
I. Any person found guilty of the unlawful disclosure of confidentialinformation possessed by a health regulatory board shall be guilty of a Class1 misdemeanor.
(1997, c. 698; 1998, c. 744; 1999, c. 888; 2003, cc. 753, 762; 2004, c. 49;2006, cc. 155, 184; 2007, c. 395; 2009, cc. 342, 472.)