Iowa Code Title IV. Public Health [Chs. 123-158] § 124.553. Information access

1. The board may provide information from the program to the following:

2. The board shall maintain a record of each person that requests information from the program and of all proactive notifications distributed to prescribing practitioners and dispensing pharmacists as provided in subsection 1, paragraph “g”. Pursuant to rules adopted by the board under section 124.554, the board may use the records to document and report statistical information, and may provide program information for statistical, public research, public policy, or educational purposes, after removing personal identifying information of a patient, prescribing practitioner, dispenser, or other person who is identified in the information.

3. Information contained in the program and any information obtained from it, and information contained in the records of requests for information from the program and information distributed to prescribing practitioners and dispensing pharmacists as provided in subsection 1, paragraph “g”, is privileged and strictly confidential information. Such information is a confidential public record pursuant to section 22.7, and is not subject to discovery, subpoena, or other means of legal compulsion for release except as provided in this subchapter. Information from the program shall not be released, shared with an agency or institution, or made public except as provided in this subchapter.

4. A pharmacist or other dispenser making a report to the program reasonably and in good faith pursuant to this subchapter is immune from any liability, civil, criminal, or administrative, which might otherwise be incurred or imposed as a result of the report.

5. Nothing in this section shall require a pharmacist, veterinarian, or prescribing practitioner to obtain information about a patient from the program. A pharmacist, veterinarian, or prescribing practitioner does not have a duty and shall not be held liable in damages to any person in any civil or derivative criminal or administrative action for injury, death, or loss to person or property on the basis that the pharmacist, veterinarian, or prescribing practitioner did or did not seek or obtain or use information from the program. A pharmacist, veterinarian, or prescribing practitioner acting reasonably and in good faith is immune from any civil, criminal, or administrative liability that might otherwise be incurred or imposed for requesting or receiving or using information from the program.

6. The board shall not charge a fee to a pharmacy, pharmacist, veterinarian, or prescribing practitioner for the establishment, maintenance, or administration of the program, including costs for forms required to submit information to or access information from the program, except that the board may charge a fee to an individual who requests the individual's own program information. A fee charged pursuant to this subsection shall not exceed the actual cost of providing the requested information and shall be considered a repayment receipt as defined in section 8.2.

7. The board may enter into an agreement with a prescription database or monitoring program operated in any state for the mutual exchange of information. Any agreement entered into pursuant to this subsection shall specify that all the information exchanged pursuant to the agreement shall be used and disseminated in accordance with the laws of this state.