6810 - Prescriptions. - New York Statutes

§ 6810. Prescriptions. 1. No drug for which a prescription is required by the provisions of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act or by the commissioner of health shall be distributed or dispensed to any person except upon a prescription written by a person legally authorized to issue such prescription. Such drug shall be compounded or dispensed by a licensed pharmacist, and no such drug shall be dispensed without affixing to the immediate container in which the drug is sold or dispensed a label bearing the name and address of the owner of the establishment in which it was dispensed, the date compounded, the number of the prescription under which it is recorded in the pharmacist's prescription files, the name of the prescriber, the name and address of the patient, and the directions for the use of the drug by the patient as given upon the prescription. The prescribing and dispensing of a drug which is a controlled substance shall be subject to additional requirements provided in article thirty-three of the public health law. The words "drug" and "prescription required drug" within the meaning of this article shall not be construed to include soft or hard contact lenses, eyeglasses, or any other device for the aid or correction of vision. Nothing in this subdivision shall prevent a pharmacy from furnishing a drug to another pharmacy which does not have such drug in stock for the purpose of filling a prescription. 2. A prescription may not be refilled unless it bears a contrary instruction and indicates on its face the number of times it may be refilled. A prescription may not be refilled more times than allowed on the prescription. The date of each refilling must be indicated on the original prescription. Prescriptions for controlled substances shall be refilled only pursuant to article thirty-three of the public health law. 3. A copy of a prescription for a controlled substance shall not be furnished to the patient but may be furnished to any licensed practitioner authorized to write such prescription. Copies of other prescriptions shall be furnished to the patient at his request, but such copies are issued for the informational purposes of the prescribers only, and shall be so worded. 4. (a) Oral prescriptions for controlled substances shall be filled pursuant to article thirty-three of the public health law. A pharmacist may fill an oral prescription for a drug, other than a controlled substance, made by a practitioner legally authorized to prescribe drugs. An oral authorization for the refill of a prescription, other than a prescription for a controlled substance, may be made by a practitioner legally authorized to prescribe drugs. The pharmacist receiving such oral authorization for the refill of a prescription shall write on the reverse side of the original prescription the date, time, and name of the practitioner authorizing the refill of the prescription. An oral prescription or an oral authorization for the refill of a prescription for the drug, other than a controlled substance, may be communicated by an employee of the prescribing practitioner; provided, however, the pharmacist shall: (i) contemporaneously reduce such prescription to writing; (ii) dispense the substance in conformity with the labeling requirements applicable to a written prescription; and (iii) make a good faith effort to verify the employee's identity if the employee is unknown to the pharmacist. (b) Oral prescriptions for patients in general hospitals, nursing homes, residential health care facilities as defined in section twenty-eight hundred one of the public health law, hospitals as defined in subdivision ten of section 1.03 of the mental hygiene law, or developmental centers or developmental disabilities services offices listed in subdivision (b) of section 13.17 of the mental hygiene law,may be communicated to a pharmacist serving as a vendor of pharmaceutical services based upon a contractual arrangement by an agent designated by and under the direction of the prescriber or the institution. Such agent shall be a health care practitioner currently licensed and registered under this title. 5. Records of all prescriptions filled or refilled shall be maintained for a period of at least five years and upon request made available for inspection and copying by a representative of the department. Such records shall indicate date of filling or refilling, doctor's name, patient's name and address and the name or initials of the pharmacist who prepared, compounded, or dispensed the prescription. Records of prescriptions for controlled substances shall be maintained pursuant to requirements of article thirty-three of the public health law. 6. (a) Every prescription written in this state by a person authorized to issue such prescription shall be on prescription forms containing one line for the prescriber's signature. The prescriber's signature shall validate the prescription. Imprinted conspicuously in eight point upper case type immediately below the signature line shall be the words: "THIS PRESCRIPTION WILL BE FILLED GENERICALLY UNLESS PRESCRIBER WRITES 'd a w' IN THE BOX BELOW". Unless the prescriber writes d a w in such box in the prescriber's own handwriting, the prescriber's signature shall designate approval of substitution by a pharmacist of a drug product pursuant to paragraph (o) of subdivision one of section two hundred six of the public health law. No other letters or marks in such box shall prohibit substitution. No prescription forms used or intended to be used by a person authorized to issue a prescription shall have 'd a w' preprinted in such box. Such box shall be placed directly under the signature line and shall be three-quarters inch in length and one-half inch in height. Immediately below such box shall be imprinted in six point type the words "Dispense As Written". Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no state official, agency, board or other entity shall promulgate any regulation or guideline modifying those elements of the prescription form's contents specified in this subdivision. To the extent otherwise permitted by law, a prescriber may modify only those elements of the prescription form's contents not specified in this subdivision. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section or any other law, when a generic drug is not available and the brand name drug originally prescribed is available and the pharmacist agrees to dispense the brand name product for a price that will not exceed the price that would have been charged for the generic substitute had it been available, substitution of a generic drug product will not be required. If the generic drug product is not available and a medical emergency situation, which for purposes of this section is defined as any condition requiring alleviation of severe pain or which threatens to cause disability or take life if not promptly treated, exists, then the pharmacist may dispense the brand name product at his regular price. In such instances the pharmacist must record the date, hour and nature of the medical emergency on the back of the prescription and keep a copy of all such prescriptions. (b) The prescriber shall inform the patient whether he or she has prescribed a brand name or its generic equivalent drug product. (c) The provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to a hospital as defined in article twenty-eight of the public health law. (d) No prescriber shall be subjected to civil liability arising solely from authorizing, in accordance with this subdivision, the substitution by a pharmacist of a drug product pursuant to paragraph (o) of subdivision one of section two hundred six of the public health law.7. (a) No prescription for a drug written in this state by a person authorized to issue such prescription shall be on a prescription form which authorizes the dispensing or compounding of any other drug. No drug shall be dispensed by a pharmacist when such prescription form includes any other drug. (b) With respect to drugs other than controlled substances, the provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to pharmacists employed by or providing services under contract to general hospitals, nursing homes, residential health care facilities as defined in section twenty-eight hundred one of the public health law, hospitals as defined in subdivision ten of section 1.03 of the mental hygiene law, or developmental centers or developmental disabilities services offices listed in subdivision (b) of section 13.17 of the mental hygiene law, who dispense drugs in the course of said employment or in the course of providing such services under contract. With respect to such pharmacists, each prescription shall be transcribed on a patient specific prescription form. 8. Every prescription (whether or not for a controlled substance) written in this state by a person authorized to issue such prescription and containing the prescriber's signature shall, in addition to such signature, be imprinted or stamped legibly and conspicuously with the printed name of the prescriber who has signed the prescription. The imprinted or stamped name of the signing prescriber shall appear in an appropriate location on the prescription form and shall not be entered in or upon any space or line reserved for the prescriber's signature. The imprinted or stamped name shall not be employed as a substitute for, or fulfill any legal requirement otherwise mandating that the prescription be signed by the prescriber. 9. No person, corporation, association or other entity, not licensed to issue a prescription pursuant to this title, shall wilfully cause prescription forms, blanks or facsimiles thereof to be disseminated to any person other than a person who is licensed to issue a prescription pursuant to this title. A violation of this subdivision shall be a class B misdemeanor punishable in accordance with the provisions of the penal law.