2014 Kentucky Revised Statutes CHAPTER 218A - CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES 218A.240 Controlled substances -- Duties and authority of state and local officers, Cabinet for Health and Family Services, and Kentucky Board of Pharmacy -- Civil proceedings -- Identification of trends -- Identification of prescribers, dispensers, and patients for licensing board -- Review of hospital's or health care facility's prescribing and dispensing practices.
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218A.240 Controlled substances -- Duties and authority of state and local
officers, Cabinet for Health and Family Services, and Kentucky Board of
Pharmacy -- Civil proceedings -- Identification of trends -- Identification of
prescribers, dispensers, and patients for licensing board -- Review of
hospital's or health care facility's prescribing and dispensing practices.
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All police officers and deputy sheriffs directly employed full-time by state,
county, city, urban-county, or consolidated local governments, the Department
of Kentucky State Police, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, their
officers and agents, and of all city, county, and Commonwealth's attorneys, and
the Attorney General, within their respective jurisdictions, shall enforce all
provisions of this chapter and cooperate with all agencies charged with the
enforcement of the laws of the United States, of this state, and of all other
states relating to controlled substances.
For the purpose of enforcing the provisions of this chapter, the designated
agents of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services shall have the full power
and authority of peace officers in this state, including the power of arrest and
the authority to bear arms, and shall have the power and authority to
administer oaths; to enter upon premises at all times for the purpose of making
inspections; to seize evidence; to interrogate all persons; to require the
production of prescriptions, of books, papers, documents, or other evidence; to
employ special investigators; and to expend funds for the purpose of obtaining
evidence and to use data obtained under KRS 218A.202(7) in any
administrative proceeding before the cabinet.
The Kentucky Board of Pharmacy, its agents and inspectors, shall have the
same powers of inspection and enforcement as the Cabinet for Health and
Family Services.
Designated agents of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the
Kentucky Board of Pharmacy are empowered to remove from the files of a
pharmacy or the custodian of records for that pharmacy any controlled
substance prescription or other controlled substance record upon tendering a
receipt. The receipt shall be sufficiently detailed to accurately identify the
record. A receipt for the record shall be a defense to a charge of failure to
maintain the record.
Notwithstanding the existence or pursuit of any other remedy, civil or criminal,
any law enforcement authority may maintain, in its own name, an action to
restrain or enjoin any violation of this chapter or to forfeit any property subject
to forfeiture under KRS 218A.410, irrespective of whether the owner of the
property has been charged with or convicted of any offense under this chapter.
(a) Any civil action against any person brought pursuant to this section may
be instituted in the Circuit Court in any county in which the person
resides, in which any property owned by the person and subject to
forfeiture is found, or in which the person has violated any provision of
this chapter.
(b) A final judgment rendered in favor of the Commonwealth in any criminal
proceeding brought under this chapter shall estop the defendant from
denying the essential allegations of the criminal offense in any
subsequent civil proceeding brought pursuant to this section.
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The prevailing party in any civil proceeding brought pursuant to this
section shall recover his or her costs, including a reasonable attorney's
fee.
(d) Distribution of funds under this section shall be made in the same manner
as in KRS 218A.420, except that if the Commonwealth's attorney has not
initiated the forfeiture action under this section, his or her percentage of
the funds shall go to the agency initiating the forfeiture action.
The Cabinet for Health and Family Services shall make or cause to be made
examinations of samples secured under the provisions of this chapter to
determine whether any provision has been violated.
(a) The Cabinet for Health and Family Services shall proactively use the data
compiled in the electronic system created in KRS 218A.202 for
investigations, research, statistical analysis, and educational purposes
and shall proactively identify trends in controlled substance usage and
other potential problem areas. Only cabinet personnel who have
undergone training for the electronic system and who have been
approved to use the system shall be authorized access to the data and
reports under this subsection. The cabinet shall notify a state licensing
board listed in KRS 218A.205 if a report or analysis conducted under this
subsection indicates that further investigation about improper,
inappropriate or illegal prescribing or dispensing may be necessary by the
board. The board shall consider each report and may, after giving due
consideration to areas of practice, specialties, board certifications, and
appropriate standards of care, request and receive a follow-up report or
analysis containing relevant information as to the prescriber or dispenser
and his or her patients.
(b) The cabinet shall develop criteria, in collaboration with the Board of
Medical Licensure, the Board of Nursing, the Office of Drug Control
Policy, and the Board of Pharmacy, to be used to generate public trend
reports from the data obtained by the system. Meetings at which the
criteria are developed shall be meetings, as defined in KRS 61.805, that
comply with the open meetings laws, KRS 61.805 to 61.850. The cabinet
shall, on a quarterly basis, publish trend reports from the data obtained by
the system. Except as provided in subsection (8) of this section, these
trend reports shall not identify an individual prescriber, dispenser, or
patient. Peace officers authorized to receive data under KRS 218A.202
may request trend reports not specifically published pursuant to this
paragraph except that the report shall not identify an individual prescriber,
dispenser, or patient.
If the cabinet deems it to be necessary and appropriate, upon the request of a
state licensing board listed in KRS 218A.205, the cabinet shall provide the
requesting board with the identity of prescribers, dispensers, and patients used
to compile a specific trend report.
Any hospital or other health care facility may petition the cabinet to review data
from the electronic system specified in KRS 218A.202 as it relates to
employees of that facility to determine if inappropriate prescribing or dispensing
practices are occurring. The cabinet may initiate any investigation in such
cases as he or she determines is appropriate, and may request the assistance
from the hospitals or health care facilities in the investigation.
Effective:July 20, 2012
History: Amended 2012 (1st Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 1, sec. 5, effective July 20,
2012. -- Amended 2007 Ky. Acts ch. 85, sec. 253, effective June 26, 2007; and
ch. 124, sec. 14, effective June 26, 2007. -- Amended 2005 Ky. Acts ch. 99,
sec. 546, effective June 20, 2005. -- Amended 2004 Ky. Acts ch. 68, sec. 2,
effective July 13, 2004; and ch. 107, sec. 2, effective July 13, 2004. -- Amended
1998 Ky. Acts ch. 301, sec. 26, effective July 15, 1998; and ch. 426, sec. 487,
effective July 15, 1988. -- Amended 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 441, sec. 28, effective
July 14, 2992. -- Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 74, Art. VI, sec. 107(3). -- Created
1972 Ky. Acts ch. 226, sec. 26.
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