(a)(1) The information required by this article to be kept by the Board of Pharmacy is confidential and not subject to the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-b of this code or obtainable as discovery in civil matters absent a court order and is open to inspection only by inspectors and agents of the Board of Pharmacy, members of the West Virginia State Police expressly authorized by the Superintendent of the West Virginia State Police to have access to the information, authorized agents of local law-enforcement agencies as members of a federally affiliated drug task force, authorized agents of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, duly authorized agents of the Bureau for Medical Services, duly authorized agents of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for use in post-mortem examinations, duly authorized agents of the Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification for use in certification, licensure and regulation of health facilities, duly authorized agents of licensing boards of practitioners in this state and other states authorized to prescribe Schedules II, III and IV controlled substances, prescribing practitioners and pharmacists, a dean of any medical school or his or her designee located in this state to access prescriber level data to monitor prescribing practices of faculty members, prescribers and residents enrolled in a degree program at the school where he or she serves as dean, a physician reviewer designated by an employer of medical providers to monitor prescriber level information of prescribing physicians, advance practice registered nurses or physician assistant in their employ, and a chief medical officer of a hospital or a physician designated by the chief executive of a hospital who does not have a chief medical officer, for prescribers who have admitting privileges to the hospital or prescriber level information, and persons with an enforceable court order or regulatory agency administrative subpoena. All law-enforcement personnel who have access to the Controlled Substances Monitoring Program database shall be granted access in accordance with applicable state laws and the Board of Pharmacy's rules, shall be certified as a West Virginia law-enforcement officer and shall have successfully completed training approved by the Board of Pharmacy. All information released by the Board of Pharmacy must be related to a specific patient or a specific individual or entity under investigation by any of the above parties except that practitioners who prescribe or dispense controlled substances may request specific data related to their Drug Enforcement Administration controlled substance registration number or for the purpose of providing treatment to a patient: Provided, That the West Virginia Controlled Substances Monitoring Program Database Review Committee established in subsection (b) of this section is authorized to query the database to comply with said subsection.
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