West Virginia Code 16-5Y-9 – Violations; penalties; injunction
(1) If a medication-assisted treatment program or any owner or medical director is found to be in violation of any provision of this article, unless otherwise noted herein, the secretary may limit, suspend or revoke the program’s license or registration;
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 16-5Y-9
- board: means a board of health serving one or more counties or one or more municipalities or a combination thereof. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Director: means the Director of the Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification. See West Virginia Code 16-5Y-2
- Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
- Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
- Medical director: means a physician licensed within the State of West Virginia who assumes responsibility for administering all medical services performed by the medication-assisted treatment program, either by performing them directly or by delegating specific responsibility to authorized program physicians and health care professionals functioning under the medical director&rsquo. See West Virginia Code 16-5Y-2
- Medication-assisted treatment: means the use of medications and drug screens, in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, to provide a holistic approach to the treatment of substance use disorders. See West Virginia Code 16-5Y-2
- Medication-assisted treatment medication: means any medication that is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration under Section 505 of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, 21 U. See West Virginia Code 16-5Y-2
- Medication-assisted treatment program: means all publicly and privately owned opioid treatment programs and office-based, medication-assisted treatment programs, which prescribe medication-assisted treatment medications and treat substance use disorders, as those terms are defined in this article. See West Virginia Code 16-5Y-2
- Owner: means any person, partnership, association, or corporation listed as the owner of a medication-assisted treatment program on the licensing or registration forms required by this article. See West Virginia Code 16-5Y-2
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
- Physician: means an individual licensed in this state to practice allopathic medicine or surgery by the West Virginia Board of Medicine or osteopathic medicine or surgery by the West Virginia Board of Osteopathic Medicine and that meets the requirements of this article. See West Virginia Code 16-5Y-2
- Secretary: means the Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources or his or her designee. See West Virginia Code 16-5Y-2
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
(2) If the program’s medical director knowingly and intentionally misrepresents actions taken to correct a violation, the secretary may impose a civil money penalty not to exceed $10,000 and, in the case of any owner-operator medication-assisted treatment program, limit or revoke a medication-assisted treatment program’s license or registration;
(3) If any owner or medical director of a medication-assisted treatment program concurrently operates an unlicensed or unregistered medication-assisted treatment program, the secretary may impose a civil money penalty upon the owner or medical director, or both, not to exceed $5,000 per day;
(4) If the owner of a medication-assisted treatment program that requires a license or registration under this article fails to apply for a new license or registration for the program upon a change of ownership and operates the program under new ownership, the secretary may impose a civil money penalty upon the owner, not to exceed $5,000; or
(5) If a physician operates, owns or manages an unlicensed or unregistered medication-assisted treatment program that is required to be licensed or registered pursuant to this article; knowingly prescribes or dispenses or causes to be prescribed or dispensed, a medication-assisted treatment medication through misrepresentation or fraud; procures, or attempts to procure, a license or registration for a medication-assisted treatment program for any other person by making or causing to be made any false representation, the secretary may assess a civil money penalty of not more than $20,000. The penalty may be in addition to or in lieu of any other action that may be taken by the secretary or any other board, court or entity.
(b) Notwithstanding the existence or pursuit of any other remedy, the secretary may, in the manner provided by law, maintain an action in the name of the state for an injunction against any person, partnership, association or corporation to restrain or prevent the establishment, conduct, management or operation of any medication-assisted treatment program or violation of any provision of this article or any rule lawfully promulgated thereunder without first obtaining a license or registration in the manner herein provided.
(c) In determining whether a penalty is to be imposed and in fixing the amount of the penalty, the secretary shall consider the following factors:
(1) The gravity of the violation, including the probability that death or serious physical or emotional harm to a patient has resulted, or could have resulted, from the medication-assisted treatment program’s actions or the actions of the medical director or any practicing physician, the severity of the action or potential harm, and the extent to which the provisions of the applicable laws or rules were violated;
(2) What actions, if any, the owner or medical director took to correct the violations;
(3) Whether there were any previous violations at the medication-assisted treatment program; and
(4) The financial benefits that the medication-assisted treatment program derived from committing or continuing to commit the violation.
(d) Upon finding that a physician has violated the provisions of this article or rules adopted pursuant to this article, the secretary shall provide notice of the violation to the applicable licensing board.