2023 New York Laws › ISC - Insurance › Article 1 - General Provisions › 111 - Investigation by the Superintendent With Respect to Prescription Drugs.

§   111.   Investigation   by   the  superintendent  with  respect  to
prescription drugs. (a) Whenever it shall appear to the  superintendent,
either  upon complaint or otherwise, that in the advertisement, purchase
or  sale  within  this  state  of  any  prescription  drug,   which   is
contemplated  to  be  paid  by  a  policy approved by the department for
offering within the state, has increased over the course of  any  twelve
months by more than fifty percent to an amount greater than five dollars
per   unit  and  if  it  is  suspected  that  any  person,  partnership,
corporation, company, trust or association, or  any  agent  or  employee
thereof,  shall  have  employed,  or  employs, or is about to employ any
device, scheme or artifice to defraud or for obtaining money or property
by means of any false pretense, representation or promise, or  that  any
person,  partnership, corporation, company, trust or association, or any
agent or employee thereof, shall have made, makes or  attempts  to  make
within  or  from this state or shall have engaged in or engages in or is
about to engage in any practice or transaction  or  course  of  business
relating  to the purchase, exchange, or sale of prescription drugs which
is fraudulent or in violation of law and which  has  operated  or  which
would  operate  as  a  fraud  upon  the  purchaser, or that any agent or
employee thereof, has sold or offered for sale or is attempting to  sell
or  is  offering  for sale any prescription drug for which the price has
increased fifty percent over  the  prior  calendar  year  to  an  amount
greater  than  five dollars per unit, and the superintendent believes it
to be in the public interest that an investigation be made,  he  or  she
may  in  their  sole  discretion  either  require or permit such person,
partnership, corporation, company, trust or association, or any agent or
employee thereof, to file with the department  a  statement  in  writing
under oath or otherwise as to all the facts and circumstances concerning
the  price  increase  which  he  or  she believes it to be in the public
interest to investigate, and for that purpose may prescribe  forms  upon
which such statements shall be made. The superintendent may also require
such  other  data and information as he or she may deem relevant and may
make such special and independent investigations as he or she  may  deem
necessary in connection with the matter.
(b) In addition to any other power granted by law, the superintendent,
his  or  her deputy or other officer designated by the superintendent is
empowered to subpoena witnesses, compel their attendance,  examine  them
under oath and require the production of any books or papers which he or
she  deems  relevant  or material to the inquiry. Such power of subpoena
shall be enforced as though the subpoena were issued under section three
hundred six of the financial services law.
(c)  If  any  person,  partnership,  corporation,  company,  trust  or
association,  fails  to  submit  a  written  statement  required  by the
superintendent under subsection (a) of this section or fails  to  comply
with  a  subpoena issued pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, the
superintendent may, after notice and a hearing, levy a civil penalty not
to exceed to one thousand dollars per day that the failure continues.
(d) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, any information  obtained
in  an  investigation under this section shall be confidential and shall
not be subject to disclosure  by  the  department  except  to  the  drug
accountability   board,   which  may  review  the  information  and,  as
necessary,  include  any   such   information   in   its   report.   The
superintendent  may  also  disclose  any  such  information necessary to
protect the public, but such disclosures shall to  the  greatest  extent
possible  not  identify  a  specific  manufacturer or prices charged for
drugs by such manufacturer.