Missouri News: Compliance Notes

February 1, 2006 10:24 am

Published in the February 2006 Missouri Board of Pharmacy Newsletter

Delivery of Drugs: Observations are being made concerning the delivery of drugs by pharmacies to locations that are not supervised by or involve pharmacy personnel in maintaining control of the drugs until ultimate delivery to the patient or caregiver. Allowing drug deliveries to unregulated locations or to persons who are not designated a caregiver is, in effect, condoning the use of drop sites for deliveries, which is not considered an acceptable practice.

Audits by Third Parties: Pharmacies will from time to time be subject to audits of prescription records concerning reimbursement of the pharmacy by third-party entities or their designated representatives such as a pharmacy benefit manager or private consultant. It is important to remember that only those records within the jurisdiction of the third party, due to prior involvement with the ultimate delivery of a prescription, can be legally reviewed. Federal and state confidentiality laws protect patient records from any review process where there is no prior relationship with the third party. Pharmacists and pharmacy permit holders have a duty to safeguard the confidential nature of their records from any unauthorized use or review from outside individuals or entities.

Technician Registrations: Renewal time for registrations is approaching. Pharmacists-in-Charge (PIC) need to make sure that all technician address changes are updated. Submit changes to the Board via www.pr.mo.gov/pharmacists-coa.asp.

NDC Number: When using National Drug Code (NDC) numbers within dispensing records of the pharmacy, care must be taken to ensure that only the correct NDC number indicating the proper drug and packaging size is used.