Idaho News: Centralized Prescription Processing or Filling for Immediate Need

December 1, 2009 4:41 pm

Published in the December 2009 Idaho State Board of Pharmacy Newsletter

Pursuant to the additional conditions of rule #257.02, “for the limited purpose of ensuring that drugs or devices are attainable to meet the immediate needs of patients and residents of the institutional facility,” “an outside pharmacy that provides prescription processing or filling services for an institutional facility which does not have an institutional pharmacy may outsource, pursuant to a contract, prescription processing or filling services to another pharmacy.” This practice has commonly been referred to as “first dose.” Examples of institutional facilities that do not have an institutional pharmacy are assisted living facilities, correctional facilities, and nursing homes, as per rules #252.01.a and #252.01.b. Patients residing outside of an institutional facility, such as patients residing in their own homes, including many hospice patients, may not receive prescription processing or filling services from another pharmacy that is contracted with the original outside pharmacy that provides said services, as per rule #257.02. If these outside pharmacies are registered as limited service pharmacies, as per rule #177, the outside pharmacy may utilize a valid chart order, as opposed to a valid prescription, to provide prescription processing or filling services and may, in turn, outsource centralized filling or processing services to another contracted pharmacy utilizing this same valid chart order, which may be provided to the other contracted pharmacy through communication such as oral and facsimile. By properly utilizing rule #257.02, adherence to rule #160, Prescription Transfer, is not necessary. Due to federal restrictions, prescriptions for controlled substances are not able to be outsourced, as per rule #257.02.