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Current as of January 01, 2025 | Updated by Findlaw Staff
The team shall:
(1) Review each medication-related death where a medication approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of opioid use disorder was either the primary or a secondary cause of death and review medication-related incidents.
(2) Determine the role that a medication approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of opioid use disorder played in each death and medication-related incident.
(3) Communicate concerns to regulators and facilitate communication within the health care and legal systems about issues that could threaten health and public safety.
(4) Develop best practices to prevent future medication-related deaths and medication-related incidents. The best practices shall be:
(i) Promulgated by the department as regulations.
(ii) Posted on the department's Internet website.
(5) Collect and store data on the number of medication-related deaths and medication-related incidents and provide a brief description of each death and incident. The aggregate statistics shall be posted on the department's Internet website.
(6) Develop a form for the submission of medication-related deaths and medication-related incidents to the team by any concerned party.
(7) Develop, in consultation with a Statewide association representing county coroners and medical examiners, a model form for county coroners and medical examiners to use to report and transmit information regarding medication-related deaths to the team. The team and the Statewide association representing county coroners and medical examiners shall collaborate to ensure that all medication-related deaths are, to the fullest extent possible, identified by coroners and medical examiners.
(8) Develop and implement any other strategies that the team identifies to ensure that the most complete collection of medication-related death and medication-related serious incident cases reasonably possible is created.
(9) Prepare an annual report that shall be posted on the department's Internet website and distributed to the chairman and minority chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, the chairman and minority chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee of the Senate, the chairman and minority chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives and the chairman and minority chairman of the Human Services Committee of the House of Representatives. Each report shall:
(i) Provide public information regarding the number and causes of medication-related deaths and medication-related incidents.
(ii) Provide aggregate data on five-year trends on medication-related deaths and medication-related incidents when such information is available.
(iii) Make recommendations to prevent future medication-related deaths, medication-related incidents and abuse and set forth the department's plan for implementing the recommendations.
(iv) Recommend changes to statutes and regulations to decrease medication-related deaths and medication-related incidents.
(v) Provide a report on medication-related deaths and medication-related incidents and concerns regarding opioid-assisted treatment programs.
(10) Develop and publish on the department's Internet website a list of meetings for each year.
Cite this article: FindLaw.com - Pennsylvania Statutes Title 71 P.S. State Government § 1691.4. Team duties - last updated January 01, 2025 | https://codes.findlaw.com/pa/title-71-ps-state-government/pa-st-sect-71-1691-4/
FindLaw Codes may not reflect the most recent version of the law in your jurisdiction. Please verify the status of the code you are researching with the state legislature before relying on it for your legal needs.
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