Sponsored by:
Senator LINDA R. GREENSTEIN
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
Senator NILSA CRUZ-PEREZ
District 5 (Camden and Gloucester)
SYNOPSIS
Authorizes pharmacists to dispense up to 90-day supply of certain prescription drugs.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As reported by the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee on June 1, 2017, with amendments.
An Act concerning prescription medications and amending P.L.2003, c.280.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 18 of P.L.2003, c.280 (C.45:14-57) is amended to read as follows:
18. a. A prescription issued by a practitioner or health care facility licensed in New Jersey shall not be filled by a pharmacist unless the prescription is issued on a New Jersey Prescription Blank bearing the practitioner's license number or the unique provider number assigned to a health care facility.
b. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection a. of this section to the contrary, a practitioner or health care facility licensed in New Jersey may utilize an electronic health record program to imprint the practitioner's name and license number or the unique provider number assigned to a health care facility on a blank New Jersey Prescription Blank for transmission to a pharmacist, provided that:
(1) any other requirements under section 20 of P.L.2003, c.280 (C.45:14-59) and any regulations adopted by the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety concerning New Jersey Prescription Blanks are met; and
(2) the electronic health record program will imprint on the blank form all such identifying information about the prescriber as is required by regulation of the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs.
c. A pharmacist may, at the pharmacist's professional discretion, dispense up to a 90-day supply of a prescription drug pursuant to a valid prescription that specifies an initial quantity of less than a 90-day supply followed by periodic refills, provided that:
(1) the prescription drug is not a controlled dangerous substance;
(2) 1[the patient has completed an initial 30-day supply of the prescription drug, except that this requirement shall not apply if the prescription continues a medication previously dispensed to the patient in a 90-day supply;
(3)]1 the total quantity dispensed does not exceed the total number of dosage units authorized under the prescription, including refills; and
1[(4)] (3)1 the
prescriber has not explicitly indicated on the prescription that dispensing the
prescription in an initial amount
followed by periodic refills is medically necessary, and has not otherwise
indicated that there shall be no change to the quantities authorized by the
prescription.
d. A pharmacist dispensing an increased supply of a prescription drug pursuant to subsection c. of this section shall notify the prescriber of the increase in the supply dispensed using an electronic health records system or by such other means as may be required by the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety.
(cf: P.L.2009, c.297, s.1)
2. This act shall take effect 30 days after the date of enactment, except that the State Board of Pharmacy and the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety may take any administrative action in advance thereof as may be necessary to implement the provisions of this act.