Nevada News: Prescription Refills

April 1, 2008 11:19 am Topics: Controlled substances and Prescription refills

Reprinted form the April 2008 Nevada State Board of Pharmacy Newsletter.

Board staff often gets a call from either a patient or a pharmacist asking if it is OK for a pharmacist to fill multiple refills for the same prescription at the same time (eg, providing 90 tablets for a prescription written for a quantity of 30 with two refills). The answer is “no,” unless the practitioner is contacted and agrees (like in the instance of extended travel). Just a reminder, a patient is entitled to the entire quantity of a Schedule III through Schedule V prescription, regardless of the number of refills required within six months. DEA does not consider a refill to be complete until all of the quantity for the refill is dispensed. The pharmacist must be careful to ensure that no refill requested by a patient is dispensed sooner than the directions for use would allow.