e-Profile Login and ID Quick Search
New Jersey News: Telephone Prescriptions from an "Agent"
Reprinted from the January 2008 New Jersey Board of Pharmacy Newsletter.
There continues to be some confusion regarding telephone authorization for prescription renewals. N.J.A.C. 13:39-7.3 addresses authorization for prescription renewals, and 13:39-7.3(b) states, “When the renewals listed on the original prescription have been depleted, no additional renewals may be added to the original prescription. For additional dispensing, a new prescription must be authorized by the prescriber as provided in N.J.S.A. 45:14-58a, which must be reduced to writing by the pharmacist and entered into either a manual or into the electronic data processing system as a new prescription.” Questions to the Board have specifically addressed the common scenario in which a pharmacist telephones a doctor’s office to renew a prescription by telephone and speaks to a nurse or receptionist. The New Jersey Board of Pharmacy does not interpret 13:39-7.3(b) to mean that the pharmacist must speak directly to the prescriber. In practice, when a pharmacist calls a doctor’s office for authorization to renew a prescription the pharmacist often speaks to a nurse, receptionist, or other “agent” acting on behalf of the prescriber. The pharmacist can reasonably assume that the agent has obtained authorization directly from the prescriber before passing this authorization to the pharmacist by telephone. It is recommended that any time authorization is received from anyone other than the prescriber that the pharmacist record the date and time of the telephone call and the full name and title of the prescriber’s agent on the prescription.
