§ 21a-322 — (Formerly Sec. 19-504q). Grounds for disciplinary action. Civil penalty. Records and inspection.

Connecticut § 21a-322

• Jurisdiction: Connecticut
• Title 21a: Consumer Protection
• Ch. 420c: Controlled Substance Registration

Text

(a) The Commissioner of Consumer Protection may suspend, revoke or refuse to renew a registration, place a registration on probation, place conditions on a registration and assess a civil penalty of not more than one thousand dollars per violation of this chapter, for sufficient cause. Any of the following shall be sufficient cause for such action by the commissioner: (1) The furnishing of false or fraudulent information in any application filed under this chapter; (2) conviction of a crime under any state or federal law relating to the registrant's profession, controlled substances or drugs or fraudulent practices, including, but not limited to, fraudulent billing practices; (3) failure to maintain effective controls against diversion of controlled substances into other than duly authorized legitimate medical, scientific, or commercial channels; (4) the suspension, revocation, expiration or surrender of the practitioner's federal controlled substance registration; (5) prescribing, distributing, administering or dispensing a controlled substance in schedules other than those specified in the practitioner's state or federal registration or in violation of any condition placed on the practitioner's registration; (6) suspension, revocation, expiration, surrender or other disciplinary action taken against any professional license or registration held by the practitioner; (7) abuse or excessive use of drugs; (8) possession, use, prescription for use or distribution of controlled substances or legend drugs, except for therapeutic or other proper medical or scientific purpose; (9) a practitioner's failure to account for disposition of controlled substances as determined by an audit of the receipt and disposition records of said practitioner; (10) failure to keep records of medical evaluations of patients and all controlled substances dispensed, administered or prescribed to patients by a practitioner; (11) failure to establish and implement administrative safeguards for the protection of electronic protected health information pursuant to 45 CFR 164.308, as amended from time to time; and (12) breach of any such safeguards by a prescribing practitioner's authorized agent. (b) If a practitioner dispenses, administers or prescribes any controlled substance to a patient, the practitioner shall make available to the Department of Consumer Protection, for inspection by the department, records of medical evaluations associated with dispensing, administering or prescribing such controlled substance. Such records shall be confidential and not be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, as defined in section 1-200 . The department may inspect such records solely for the purpose of investigating any violation or suspected violation, or enforcing any provision, of this chapter or any regulation promulgated under this chapter. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to require disclosure of any substance abuse treatment record that is protected from disclosure under 42 USC 290dd-2, as amended from time to time, or other applicable federal law.

Legislative History

(P.A. 77-485, S. 8, 13; P.A. 82-355, S. 6; P.A. 85-275, S. 1; P.A. 07-252, S. 75; P.A. 11-121, S. 7; P.A. 16-43, S. 10; P.A. 24-80, S. 7.) History: P.A. 82-355 added new Subdiv. permitting disciplinary action against practitioner who fails to account for disposition of controlled substances; Sec. 19-504q transferred to Sec. 21a-322 in 1983 and alphabetic Subdiv. indicators replaced with numeric indicators for consistency with general practice throughout general statutes; P.A. 85-275 authorized the commissioner of consumer protection to refuse to renew a registration for sufficient cause; P.A. 07-252 expanded disciplinary actions available to commissioner for enforcement of registration provisions, authorized civil penalty of not more than $1,000 per violation, amended Subdivs. (2) and (5) to expand grounds for disciplinary action thereunder and added Subdiv. (10) re disciplinary action for failure to keep records of patient medical evaluations and controlled substances; P.A. 11-121 amended Subdiv. (6) by replacing former provision with “suspension, revocation, expiration, surrender or other disciplinary action taken against any professional license or registration held by the practitioner”, effective January 1, 2012; P.A. 16-43 added Subdiv. (11) re failure to establish and implement administrative safeguards and added Subdiv. (12) re breach of safeguards by prescribing practitioner's authorized agent; P.A. 24-80 designated existing provisions as Subsec. (a), made a conforming change therein and added Subsec. (b) re records of medical evaluations associated with dispensing, administering or prescribing controlled substances, effective May 30, 2024.