Title 54.1, Title 54.1. Professions and Occupations

The Director of the Department of Health Professions shall be appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the General Assembly, to serve at the pleasure of the Governor.

The Director of the Department shall have the following powers and duties: 1. To supervise and manage the Department; 2. To perform or consolidate such administrative services or functions as may assist the operation of the boards; 3. To prepare, approve, and submit to the Govern…

A. The Director and investigative personnel appointed by him shall be sworn to enforce the statutes and regulations pertaining to the Department and the health regulatory boards and shall have the authority to investigate any violations of those statutes and regulations and to th…

The Department shall investigate all complaints that are within the jurisdiction of the relevant health regulatory board received from (i) the general public and (ii) all reports received pursuant to §§ 54.1-2400.6, 54.1-2400.7, 54.1-2709.3, 54.1-2709.4, 54.1-2908, or § 54.1-2909…

A. The Department is authorized to require individuals applying for initial licensure, certification, or registration, and individuals who are licensed, certified, or registered by a health regulatory board to provide information in addition to that which is required to determine…

Whenever funds are held in escrow, in trust, or in some other fiduciary capacity by a person licensed by any of the health regulatory boards and the Director or investigative personnel appointed by him have reason to believe that such person is not able or is unwilling to adequat…

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Committee" means the Health Practitioners' Monitoring Program Committee as described in § 54.1-2517. "Contract" means a written agreement between a practitioner and the Committee providing the terms and co…

A. The Director of the Department of Health Professions shall maintain a health practitioners' monitoring program that provides an alternative to disciplinary action for impaired health practitioners. The Director shall promulgate such regulations as are necessary for the impleme…

A. The Health Practitioners' Monitoring Program Committee shall consist of nine persons appointed by the Director to advise and assist in the operation of the Program, of whom eight shall be licensed, certified, or registered practitioners and one shall be a citizen member. Of th…

This chapter shall not be construed to inhibit an investigation into the conduct of a practitioner by the Department of Health Professions or any other authorized agency, including, but not limited to, law-enforcement or health regulatory agencies, or to prohibit the prosecution …

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Administer" means the direct application of a controlled substance, whether by injection, inhalation, ingestion or any other means, to the body of a patient or research subject by (i) a practitioner or, un…

A. The Director shall establish, maintain, and administer an electronic system to monitor the dispensing of covered substances to be known as the Prescription Monitoring Program. B. The Director, after consultation with relevant health regulatory boards, shall promulgate, in acco…

A. The failure by any person subject to the reporting requirements set forth in this section and the Department's regulations to report the dispensing of covered substances shall constitute grounds for disciplinary action by the relevant health regulatory board. B. Upon dispensin…

The dispensing of covered substances under the following circumstances shall be exempt from the reporting requirements set forth in § 54.1-2521: 1. Dispensing of manufacturers' samples of such covered substances or of covered substances dispensed pursuant to an indigent patient p…

A. Any prescriber who is licensed in the Commonwealth to treat human patients and is authorized pursuant to §§ 54.1-3303 and 54.1-3408 to issue a prescription for a covered substance shall be registered with the Prescription Monitoring Program by the Department of Health Professi…

The Department shall register every dispenser licensed by the Board of Pharmacy pursuant to Article 3 (§ 54.1-3310 et seq.) of Chapter 33 with the Prescription Monitoring Program.

A. All data, records, and reports relating to the prescribing and dispensing of covered substances to recipients and any abstracts from such data, records, and reports that are in the possession of the Prescription Monitoring Program pursuant to this chapter and any material rela…

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 Ser…

Any prescriber or dispenser authorized to access the information in the possession of the Prescription Monitoring Program pursuant to this chapter may, pursuant to regulations promulgated by the Director to implement the provisions of this section, delegate such authority to indi…

A. The Director and the employees of the Department of Health Professions shall not be liable for any civil damages resulting from the accuracy or inaccuracy of any information reported to and compiled and maintained by the Department pursuant to this chapter. Further, the Direct…

A. It shall be unlawful for any person having access to the confidential information in the possession of the program or any data or reports produced by the program to disclose such confidential information except as provided in this chapter. Any person having access to the confi…

The provisions of Chapter 20.1 (§ 2.2-2005 et seq.) of Title 2.2 shall not apply to the Prescription Monitoring Program pursuant to this chapter operated by the Department of Health Professions until July 1, 2012, unless an alternate date is mutually agreed upon.