§30-5-16c Partial filling of prescriptions for long-term care facility or terminally ill patients; requirements; records; violations.
§30-5-16c. Partial filling of prescriptions for long-term care
facility or terminally ill patients; requirements; records; violations.
(a) As used in this section, "long-term care facility" or "LTCF" means any nursing home, personal care home, or residential board and care home as defined in section two, article five-c, chapter sixteen of this code which provides extended health care to resident patients: Provided, That the care or treatment in a household, whether for compensation or not, of any person related by blood or marriage, within the degree of consanguinity of second cousin to the head of the household, or his or her spouse, may not be deemed to constitute a nursing home, personal care home or residential board and care home within the meaning of this article. This section shall not apply to:
(1) Hospitals, as defined under section one, article five-b, chapter sixteen of this article or to extended care facilities operated in conjunction with a hospital;
(2) State institutions as defined in section six, article one, chapter twenty-seven or in section three, article one, chapter twenty-five, all of this code;
(3) Nursing homes operated by the federal government;
(4) Facilities owned or operated by the state government;
(5) Institutions operated for the treatment and care of alcoholic patients;
(6) Offices of physicians; or
(7) Hotels, boarding homes or other similar places that furnish to their guests only a room and board.
(b) As used in this section, "terminally ill" means that an individual has a medical prognosis that his life expectancy is six months or less.
(c) Schedule II prescriptions for patients in a LTCF and for terminally ill patients shall be valid for a period of sixty days from the date of issue unless terminated within a shorter period by the discontinuance of the medication.
(d) A prescription for a Schedule II controlled substance written for a patient in a LTCF or for a terminally ill patient may be filled in partial quantities, including, but not limited to, individual dosage units. The total quantity of Schedule II controlled substances dispensed in all partial filling shall not exceed the total quantity prescribed.
(1) If there is any question whether a patient may be classified as having a terminal illness, the pharmacist shall contact the prescribing practitioner prior to partially filling the prescription.
(2) Both the pharmacist and the prescribing practitioner have a corresponding responsibility to assure that the controlled substance is for a terminally ill patient.
(e) The pharmacist shall record on the prescription that the patient is "terminally ill" or a "LTCF patient". A prescription that is partially filled and does not contain the notation "terminally ill" or "LTCF patient" shall be deemed to have been filled in violation of section three hundred eight, article three, chapter sixty-a of this code.
(f) For each partial filling, the dispensing pharmacist shall record on the back of the prescription, or on another appropriate record which is readily retrievable, the following information:
(1) The date of the partial filling;
(2) The quantity dispensed;
(3) The remaining quantity authorized to be dispensed; and
(4) The identification of the dispensing pharmacist.
(g) Information pertaining to current Schedule II prescriptions for terminally ill and LTCF patients may be maintained in a computerized system if such a system has the capability to permit either by display or printout, for each patient and each medication, all of the information required by this section as well as the patient's name and address, the name of each medication, original prescription number, date of issue, and prescribing practitioner information. The system shall also allow immediate updating of the prescription record each time a partial filling of the prescription is performed and immediate retrieval of all information required under this section.