This story originally appeared on Spotlight PA.
During a recent budget hearing, a Republican lawmaker questioned how the Department of Health uses data to provide oversight of doctors in Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program, citing ongoing public records disputes involving the agency.
The state’s Office of Open Records has ordered the health department to release the number of approvals by specific doctors if such records exist. But the agency has sued to keep those records secret, arguing for a broader interpretation of the medical marijuana law’s confidentiality rules.
At least three cases that center on the issue are currently pending in Commonwealth Court. Spotlight PA is a defendant in two of them.
State Sen. Greg Rothman (R., Cumberland) referred to those cases as he questioned Debra Bogen, the state’s acting health secretary. He didn’t ask Bogen to comment on releasing the data.
“But I would like to know if your department does do reviews of this information,” Rothman said. “And does the department protect against doctors from providing blanket approvals for medical marijuana use?”
Bogen didn’t directly say how the agency uses the data or clarify whether it routinely reviews the information for patterns or outliers….