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Minnesota News: 2008 Legislation Affecting Pharmacy
Reprinted from the July 2008 Minnesota Board of Pharmacy Newsletter.
Several laws were passed this year that will have an impact on the practice of pharmacy. Most of the pharmacy provisions in Chapter 321 of 2008 Session Law were drafted by Board staff. However, the change in dispensing authority for nurses was proposed by Planned Parenthood and the provision regarding returns of drugs from jails was proposed by the Association of Minnesota Counties. The Board worked with the Minnesota Pharmacists Association (MPhA) to get the other measures enacted into law. This law has the following provisions:
Expands the authority for registered nurses working in family planning clinics to dispense all contraceptives, rather than just oral contraceptives. The dispensing must occur only pursuant to a protocol established by the medical director or with a physician. Effective August 1, 2008.
Establishes that prescriptions or drug orders for controlled substances and certain other drugs (carisoprodol, tramadol, muscle relaxants, erectile dysfunction drugs) are not valid unless the prescriptions or orders are based on a documented patient evaluation, including an in-person examination, adequate to establish a diagnosis and identify underlying conditions and contraindications to treatment. Pharmacists are prohibited from knowingly dispensing invalid prescriptions. This provision is intended to prevent pharmacies and pharmacists from contracting or knowingly working with illegitimate Internet Web sites. This law became effective the day after it was signed by Governor Tim Pawlenty. Pharmacists should be advised that the Board has the authority to pursue disciplinary action against pharmacists and pharmacies involved in the processing of prescriptions that they know originate from illegitimate Web sites. Additional information will be provided in the next Newsletter.
Officially allows a patient to designate a family member, friend, or caregiver to handle a prescription drug for the patient. Before this change, it was technically unlawful for a person (even a spouse) to pick up someone else’s medication at the pharmacy. (Although it obviously occurred all of the time.) This provision is already in effect.
Clarifies that pharmacies can redispense medications returned from jails provided certain conditions are met. This provision, which was opposed by the Board, is already in effect.
Makes certain changes to the section of the statute involving the controlled substance prescription electronic reporting system that the Board is required to establish. Most notably, it delays implementation until January 1, 2010. The legislation was supposed to expand the program to include Schedule IV controlled substances but that change was inadvertently left out of the legislation. A technical correction to make this change will be pursued next year.
Chapter 189 of 2008 Session Law, a provision proposed by the MPhA, modifies the definition of “practice of pharmacy.” Pharmacists will be allowed to administer the influenza vaccine to any person over the age of 10 and to administer any vaccine to adults. This legislation also removes the phrase “case-by-case” from language concerning protocols. (That is, protocols will no longer have to refer to specific patients.) Effective August 1, 2008.
Chapter 358 of 2008 Session Law. Effective January 1, 2011, all providers, group purchasers, prescribers, and dispensers must establish and maintain an electronic prescription drug program that complies with the national standards for transmitting, directly or through an intermediary, prescriptions and prescription-related information using electronic media. This section was developed by the Minnesota Department of Health and deals with what might be called “transactional standards” but does not address “operational standards.” That is, it deals with how electronic prescriptions are transmitted from the prescriber to the dispenser, but does not address how prescriptions are entered into and retrieved from e-prescribing systems. Board staff has been working with MPhA and others on draft legislation to address operational standards.
Chapter 348 of 2008 Session Law provides for registration of naturopathic doctors. However, it specifically prohibits naturopathic doctors, even those who will now be registered, from prescribing legend drugs.
Chapter 363 of 2008 Session Law reduces fee-for-service Medicaid ingredient reimbursement from average wholesale price – 12% to average wholesale price – 14%, effective July 1, 2008. It also transfers $3.219 million from the special revenue fund to the general fund (ie, takes money from the reserve funds of the health-licensing boards, as occurred in 2003). The amount to be transferred from each board has not yet been determined.
