(a) To assist health care practitioners in their efforts to ensure appropriate prescribing, ordering, administering, furnishing, and dispensing of controlled substances, law enforcement and regulatory agencies in their efforts to control the diversion and resultant abuse of Schedule II, Schedule III, Schedule IV, and Schedule V controlled substances, and for statistical analysis, education, and research, the Department of Justice shall, contingent upon the availability of adequate funds in the CURES Fund, maintain the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) for the electronic monitoring of, and internet access to information regarding, the prescribing and dispensing of Schedule II, Schedule III, Schedule IV, and Schedule V controlled substances by all practitioners authorized to prescribe, order, administer, furnish, or dispense these controlled substances.

(b) The department may seek and use grant funds to pay the costs incurred by the operation and maintenance of CURES. The department shall annually report to the Legislature and make available to the public the amount and source of funds it receives for support of CURES.

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(c) (1) The operation of CURES shall comply with all applicable federal and state privacy and security laws and regulations.

(2) (A) CURES shall operate under existing provisions of law to safeguard the privacy and confidentiality of patients. Data obtained from CURES shall only be provided to appropriate state, local, and federal public agencies for disciplinary, civil, or criminal purposes and to other agencies or entities, as determined by the department, for the purpose of educating practitioners and others in lieu of disciplinary, civil, or criminal actions. Data may be provided to public or private entities, as approved by the department, for educational, peer review, statistical, or research purposes, if patient information, including information that may identify the patient, is not compromised. The University of California shall be provided access to identifiable data for research purposes if the requirements of subdivision (t) of § 1798.24 of the Civil Code are satisfied. Further, data disclosed to an individual or agency as described in this subdivision shall not be disclosed, sold, or transferred to a third party, unless authorized by, or pursuant to, state and federal privacy and security laws and regulations. The department shall establish policies, procedures, and regulations regarding the use, access, evaluation, management, implementation, operation, storage, disclosure, and security of the information within CURES, consistent with this subdivision.

(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), a regulatory board whose licensees do not prescribe, order, administer, furnish, or dispense controlled substances shall not be provided data obtained from CURES.

(3) The department shall, no later than January 1, 2021, adopt regulations regarding the access and use of the information within CURES. The department shall consult with all stakeholders identified by the department during the rulemaking process. The regulations shall, at a minimum, address all of the following in a manner consistent with this chapter:

(A) The process for approving, denying, and disapproving individuals or entities seeking access to information in CURES.

(B) The purposes for which a health care practitioner may access information in CURES.

(C) The conditions under which a warrant, subpoena, or court order is required for a law enforcement agency to obtain information from CURES as part of a criminal investigation.

(D) The process by which information in CURES may be provided for educational, peer review, statistical, or research purposes.

(4) In accordance with federal and state privacy laws and regulations, a health care practitioner may provide a patient with a copy of the patient’s CURES patient activity report as long as no additional CURES data are provided and the health care practitioner keeps a copy of the report in the patient’s medical record in compliance with subdivision (d) of Section 11165.1.

(d) For each prescription for a Schedule II, Schedule III, Schedule IV, or Schedule V controlled substance, as defined in the controlled substances schedules in federal law and regulations, specifically Sections 1308.12, 1308.13, 1308.14, and 1308.15, respectively, of Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the dispensing pharmacy, clinic, or other dispenser shall report the following information to the department or contracted prescription data processing vendor as soon as reasonably possible, but not more than one working day after the date a controlled substance is released to the patient or patient’s representative, in a format specified by the department:

(1) Full name, address, and, if available, telephone number of the ultimate user or research subject, or contact information as determined by the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and the gender and date of birth of the ultimate user.

(2) The prescriber’s category of licensure, license number, national provider identifier (NPI) number, if applicable, the federal controlled substance registration number, and the state medical license number of a prescriber using the federal controlled substance registration number of a government-exempt facility.

(3) Pharmacy prescription number, license number, NPI number, and federal controlled substance registration number.

(4) National Drug Code (NDC) number of the controlled substance dispensed.

(5) Quantity of the controlled substance dispensed.

(6) The International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD) Code contained in the most current ICD revision, or any revision deemed sufficient by the State Board of Pharmacy, if available.

(7) Number of refills ordered.

(8) Whether the drug was dispensed as a refill of a prescription or as a first-time request.

(9) Prescribing date of the prescription.

(10) Date of dispensing of the prescription.

(11) The serial number for the corresponding prescription form, if applicable.

(e) The department may invite stakeholders to assist, advise, and make recommendations on the establishment of rules and regulations necessary to ensure the proper administration and enforcement of the CURES database. A prescriber or dispenser invitee shall be licensed by one of the boards or committees identified in subdivision (d) of § 208 of the Business and Professions Code, in active practice in California, and a regular user of CURES.

(f) The department shall, prior to upgrading CURES, consult with prescribers licensed by one of the boards or committees identified in subdivision (d) of § 208 of the Business and Professions Code, one or more of the boards or committees identified in subdivision (d) of § 208 of the Business and Professions Code, and any other stakeholder identified by the department, for the purpose of identifying desirable capabilities and upgrades to the CURES Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP).

(g) The department may establish a process to educate authorized subscribers of the CURES PDMP on how to access and use the CURES PDMP.

(h) (1) The department may enter into an agreement with an entity operating an interstate data sharing hub, or an agency operating a prescription drug monitoring program in another state, for purposes of interstate data sharing of prescription drug monitoring program information.

(2) Data obtained from CURES may be provided to authorized users of another state’s prescription drug monitoring program, as determined by the department pursuant to subdivision (c), if the entity operating the interstate data sharing hub, and the prescription drug monitoring program of that state, as applicable, have entered into an agreement with the department for interstate data sharing of prescription drug monitoring program information.

(3) An agreement entered into by the department for purposes of interstate data sharing of prescription drug monitoring program information shall ensure that all access to data obtained from CURES and the handling of data contained within CURES comply with California law, including regulations, and meet the same patient privacy, audit, and data security standards employed and required for direct access to CURES.

(4) For purposes of interstate data sharing of CURES information pursuant to this subdivision, an authorized user of another state’s prescription drug monitoring program shall not be required to register with CURES, if the authorized user is registered and in good standing with that state’s prescription drug monitoring program.

(5) The department shall not enter into an agreement pursuant to this subdivision until the department has issued final regulations regarding the access and use of the information within CURES as required by paragraph (3) of subdivision (c).

(i) Notwithstanding subdivision (d), a veterinarian shall report the information required by that subdivision to the department as soon as reasonably possible, but not more than seven days after the date a controlled substance is dispensed.

(j) If the dispensing pharmacy, clinic, or other dispenser experiences a temporary technological or electrical failure, it shall, without undue delay, seek to correct any cause of the temporary technological or electrical failure that is reasonably within its control. The deadline for transmitting prescription information to the department or contracted prescription data processing vendor pursuant to subdivision (d) shall be extended until the failure is corrected. If the dispensing pharmacy, clinic, or other dispenser experiences technological limitations that are not reasonably within its control, or is impacted by a natural or manmade disaster, the deadline for transmitting prescription information to the department or contracted prescription data processing vendor shall be extended until normal operations have resumed.

(Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 618, Sec. 5. (AB 527) Effective January 1, 2022.)