124.555 Advisory council established.

An advisory council shall be established to provide oversight to the board and the program and to comanage program activities. The board and advisory council shall jointly adopt rules specifying the duties and activities of the advisory council and related matters.

1. The council shall consist of eight members appointed by the governor. The members shall include three licensed pharmacists, four physicians licensed under chapter 148, and one licensed prescribing practitioner who is not a physician. The governor shall solicit recommendations for council members from Iowa health professional licensing boards, associations, and societies. The license of each member appointed to and serving on the advisory council shall be current and in good standing with the professional’s licensing board.

2. The council shall advance the goals of the program, which include identification of misuse and diversion of controlled substances identified pursuant to section 124.554, subsection 1, paragraph “g”, and enhancement of the quality of health care delivery in this state.

3. Duties of the council shall include but not be limited to the following:

a. Ensuring the confidentiality of the patient, prescribing practitioner, and dispensing pharmacist and pharmacy.

b. Respecting and preserving the integrity of the patient’s treatment relationship with the patient’s health care providers.

c. Encouraging and facilitating cooperative efforts among health care practitioners and other interested and knowledgeable persons in developing best practices for prescribing and dispensing controlled substances and in educating health care practitioners and patients regarding controlled substance use and abuse.

d. Making recommendations regarding the continued benefits of maintaining the program in relationship to cost and other burdens to the patient, prescribing practitioner, pharmacist, and the board. The council’s recommendations shall be included in reports required by section 124.554, subsection 2.

e. One physician and one pharmacist member of the council shall include in their duties the responsibility for monitoring and ensuring that patient confidentiality, best interests, and civil liberties are at all times protected and preserved during the existence of the program.

4. Members of the advisory council shall be eligible to request and receive actual expenses for their duties as members of the advisory council, subject to reimbursement limits imposed by the department of administrative services, and shall also be eligible to receive a per diem compensation as provided in section 7E.6, subsection 1.

2006 Acts, ch 1147, §6, 11; 2007 Acts, ch 126, §31, 32; 2008 Acts, ch 1088, §82

Referred to in §124.551, 124.554