(a) The Department of Health and Social Services may require reports and information from all public dispensaries, asylums, prisons and schools and from the managers, principals and officers thereof, and from all other public institutions, their officers and managers, and from the proprietors, managers, lessees and occupants of all places of public resort in the State but such reports and information shall only be required concerning matters and particulars in respect of which the Department of Health and Social Services may need information for the proper discharge of its duties.
(b) If any proprietor, manager, principal, superintendent, officer or physician in charge refuses and neglects to make a report when requested to do so by the Department of Health and Social Services, that person shall be fined not less than $5.00 nor more than $25, together with costs.
(c) (1) The Division of Public Health and the Delaware Health Care Commission are authorized to request and receive licensing data, including names, addresses, license types, and demographic and employment-related data to the extent that the data are collected and electronically stored by the Division of Professional Regulation for the purposes of issuing and maintaining professional licenses and supporting health-care workforce research and planning under § 8735(y) of Title 29. Data collected for health-care workforce research and planning purposes may not include personal data such as home address or personal financial information. The Delaware Division of Public Health and the Delaware Health Care Commission may share licensing data with their contractors to carry out the purposes of this subsection. Licensing data may only be used for the purpose of conducting official state business, which may include any of the following:
a. Measuring and tracking the supply of licensed health-care professionals in this State.
b. Identifying and tracking data related to United States Department of Health and Human Services initiatives, including identifying health professional shortage areas (HPSAs), maternity care target areas (MCTAs), and medically underserved areas and populations (MUA/Ps), as these terms are defined by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.
c. Health-care workforce research and planning.
d. Understanding issues related to supply, demand, distribution, and use of health-care workers.
e. Informing health-care workforce policy.
(2) The boards affected include all of the following:
a. Delaware State Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline.
b. Delaware State Board of Dentistry and Dental Hygiene.
c. Delaware State Board of Nursing.
d. Delaware State Board of Mental Health and Chemical Dependency Professionals.
e. Delaware State Board of Examiners of Psychologists.
f. Delaware State Board of Social Work Examiners.
g. Delaware State Board of Podiatry.
h. Delaware State Board of Chiropractic.
i. Delaware State Board of Occupational Therapy Practice.
j. Delaware State Board of Examiners in Optometry.
k. Delaware State Board of Pharmacy.
l.Delaware State Examining Board of Physical Therapists and Athletic Trainers.
m. Delaware State Board of Examiners of Speech Pathologists, Audiologists, and Hearing Aid Dispensers.
n. Delaware State Board of Examiners of Nursing Home Administrators.
o. Delaware State Board of Dietetics/Nutrition.
p. Delaware State Board of Funeral Services.
q. Delaware State Board of Massage and Bodywork.
r. Delaware State Board of Veterinary Medicine.
(d) All data must be submitted in a standardized electronic format as determined by the Division of Public Health in consultation with the Division of Professional Regulation and the Delaware Health Care Commission. Data must be submitted within 20 business days of a request.
(e) For the purposes of measuring, tracking and projecting supply and demand of health-care professionals, the requesting entity shall provide to the Division of Professional Regulation any health workforce report developed from the data.
(f) Any individual data provided pursuant to this section shall be confidential. No public employee, commission member, or contractor acting on behalf of a state agency or employee of such a contractor may:
(1) Use any data provided pursuant to this section for any purpose other than the statistical, forecasting, workforce research and planning, and program purposes for which the data are furnished.
(2) Make public any of the data provided pursuant to this section that would allow the identity of any individual to be inferred by either direct or indirect means.
(3) Retain any personal data as provided in this section that is received by the Delaware Division of Public Health, the Delaware Health Care Commission or any contractor acting on behalf of these entities. Any personal data must be destroyed within 30 days of completion of its intended purpose as described in this section.
(g) An intentional violation of subsection (f) of this section shall result in the imposition of a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $20,000 or imprisonment of not less than 30 days nor more than 6 months, or both. Justices of the Peace shall have jurisdiction of offenses under this section.
(h) The Division of Public Health’s Office of Healthcare Provider Resources shall collaborate with the Delaware Health Care Commission and the Division of Professional Regulation to identify the data the Division of Professional Regulation must collect during the licensing or renewal process for the purposes described in subsection (c) of this section.