Massachusetts § 42B - Development and operation of publicly accessible and searchable website containing enforcement action records of licensed pharmacies and pharmacists, record of serious adverse drug events and other relevant information

§ 42B. Development and operation of publicly accessible and searchable website containing enforcement action records of licensed pharmacies and pharmacists, record of serious adverse drug events and other relevant information

Section 42B. (a) For the purpose of this section, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:—

''Enforcement action records'', any documents issued by the department of public health to a pharmacy or pharmacist relating to an infraction or violation of a state or federal statute or regulation by the pharmacy or pharmacist; provided, that enforcement action records shall include, but not be limited to, consent decrees or judgments entered into between the department and a licensed pharmacy or pharmacist as a result of a charge or complaint filed by the department against a pharmacy or pharmacist for a statutory or regulatory violation or infraction or any other type of voluntary resolution of a charge or complaint filed by the department.

''Searchable website'', a website that allows the public to search for and obtain, at no charge, enforcement action records and records of serious adverse drug events, as defined in section 51H of chapter 111, pertaining to pharmacies licensed by the commonwealth and other relevant information related to pharmacy licensure.

(b) The commissioner of public health shall develop and operate a searchable website, which includes:

(i) copies of all enforcement action records of any pharmacy or pharmacist licensed by the department whether they are located within or outside of the commonwealth;

(ii) copies of any records of serious adverse drug events, as defined in section 51H of chapter 111, and data relative to such events collected and reported pursuant to section 39D, suffered by a patient or user of medications as a result of their use of medication prepared, made or constituted by a pharmacy or pharmacist licensed by the board whether within or outside of the commonwealth;

(iii) the names, locations and central points of contact for all licensed compounding pharmacies based in the commonwealth as well as licensed non-resident pharmacies shipping compounded drugs into the commonwealth; and

(iv) any other relevant information specified by the commissioner.

(c) The searchable website shall allow users to search electronically by field in a single search and shall allow users to parse, query or aggregate the data and download information yielded by a search. The website shall permit users to search by a particular pharmacy or pharmacist or by a specific medication.

(d) The searchable website shall include and retain information for not less than 10 years.

(e) The commissioner of public health shall update the searchable website as new data becomes available. All agencies or boards of the department of public health shall provide to the commissioner all data that is required to be included in the searchable website, not later than 30 days after the data becomes available to them. The commissioner shall provide guidance to agency or board heads to ensure compliance with this section.

(f) This section shall not be construed to require the disclosure of information of patients or users of medication that is confidential under state or federal law.

(g) The commissioner of public health shall be considered not in compliance with this section if the data required for the searchable website is not available in a searchable and aggregate manner or if the public is redirected to other government websites, unless each of those websites complies with the requirements of this section.