HB-4434, As Passed House, April 21, 2005

SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE BILL NO. 4434

     A bill to amend 1978 PA 368, entitled

"Public health code,"

by amending section 17752 (MCL 333.17752) and by adding section

17753.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

     Sec. 17752. (1) A prescription, or an equivalent record

thereof  of the prescription approved by the board, shall be

preserved by a licensee or dispensing prescriber for not less than

5 years.

     (2) A prescription or equivalent record on file in a pharmacy

is not a public record. A person having custody of or access to

prescriptions shall not disclose their contents or provide copies

without the patient's authorization, to any person except to any of

the following:

     (a) The patient for whom the prescription was issued, or

another pharmacist acting on behalf of the patient.

     (b) The authorized prescriber who issued the prescription, or

a licensed health professional who is currently treating the

patient.

     (c) An agency or agent of government responsible for the

enforcement of laws relating to drugs and devices.

     (d) A person authorized by a court order.

     (e) A person engaged in research projects or studies with

protocols approved by the board.

     (3) A pharmacist may refill a copy of a prescription from

another pharmacy if the original prescription has remaining

authorized refills, and the copy is issued according to the

following procedure:

     (a) The pharmacist issuing a written or oral copy of a

prescription shall cancel the original prescription and record the

cancellation. The record of cancellation shall include the date the

copy was issued, to whom issued, and the identification of the

pharmacist who issued the copy.

     (b) The written or oral copy issued shall be a duplicate of

the original prescription except that it shall also include the

prescription number, the name of the pharmacy issuing the copy, the

date the copy was issued, and the number of authorized refills

remaining available to the patient.

     (c) The pharmacist receiving a written or oral copy of the

prescription shall exercise reasonable diligence to determine

whether it is a valid copy, and having done so may treat the copy

as an original prescription.

     (d) Except as described in this part, all other copies

furnished shall be used for information purposes only and clearly

marked "for informational or reference purposes only".

     (4) Subsection (3) does not apply to pharmacies that share a

real-time, on-line database or other equivalent means of

communication or to pharmacies that transfer prescriptions pursuant

to a written contract for centralized prescription processing

services as provided under section 17753.

     Sec. 17753. (1) A pharmacy may perform centralized

prescription processing services or outsource those services to

another pharmacy if each of the following conditions is satisfied:

     (a) The pharmacies have the same owner or have a written

contract outlining the services to be provided and the

responsibilities and accountabilities of each pharmacy in

fulfilling the terms of the contract in compliance with federal and

state laws and regulations.

     (b) The pharmacies share a common electronic file or have

appropriate technology to allow access to sufficient information

necessary or required to prepare a prescription drug order.

     (c) The pharmacies comply with federal and state laws and

regulations.

     (2) A pharmacy that performs, or contracts for, centralized

prescription processing services shall maintain a policy and

procedures manual, along with documentation that implementation is

occurring, and each shall be made available to the board for

inspection and review upon request and the manual shall include,

but is not limited to, a detailed description of how the pharmacies

will do all of the following:

     (a) Maintain appropriate records to identify the responsible

pharmacist, or pharmacists, in the various stages of the drug

product preparation, dispensing, and counseling process.

     (b) Track the prescription drug order during each step in the

drug product preparation, dispensing, and counseling process.

     (c) Identify on the prescription label each pharmacy involved

in the preparation and dispensing of the prescription drug order.

     (d) Provide adequate security to protect the confidentiality

and integrity of a patient's protected health information.

     (e) Implement and maintain a quality improvement program for

pharmacy services designed to objectively and systematically

monitor and evaluate the quality and appropriateness of patient

care, pursue opportunities to improve patient care, and resolve

identified problems.

     (3) As used in this section, "centralized prescription

processing" means the processing by a pharmacy of a request from

another pharmacy to fill or refill a prescription drug order or to

perform processing functions such as dispensing, performing drug

utilization review, completing claims adjudication, obtaining

refill authorizations, initiating therapeutic interventions, and

other functions related to the practice of pharmacy.

     Enacting section 1.  This amendatory act does not take effect

unless House Bill No. 4405 of the 93rd Legislature is enacted into

law.