PREPROPOSAL STATEMENT OF INQUIRY
(Board of Pharmacy)
Subject of Possible Rule Making: WAC 246-869-100 Prescription record requirements, amending to extend prescription refill period and retain the initial ('serial') prescription number.
Statutes Authorizing the Agency to Adopt Rules on this Subject: RCW 18.64.005 and 69.41.240.
Reasons Why Rules on this Subject may be Needed and What They Might Accomplish: The board received a petition for rule making requesting that the expiration date of prescriptions for legend drugs be extended to two years from the one year noted in WAC 246-863-100 (2)(d), and to maintain the same prescription number across all unchanged refills and renewals of the initial prescription (e.g., prescriptions expiring after two years that are renewed for another two years would keep the original prescription number). The board has agreed to consider amending the rule. Such a rule could be an advantage for select patients with verifiable stable chronic conditions for which chronic medication use is medically indicated.
Other Federal and State Agencies that Regulate this Subject and the Process Coordinating the Rule with These Agencies: The Drug Enforcement Agency regulates controlled substances, which are not part of the proposed rule making. State agencies that administer health insurance plans, such as the Department of Health and Human Services and the health care authority, could apply limitations on prescription expiration dates and prescription numbering that are more restrictive, but they do not "regulate" them.
Process for Developing New Rule: Collaborative rule making.
Interested parties can participate in the decision to adopt the new rule and formulation of the proposed rule before publication by contacting Cathy Williams, Pharmacist Consultant, Board of Pharmacy, P.O. Box 47863, Olympia, WA 98504-7863, phone (360) 236-4875, fax (360) 236-2901, or cathleen.williams@doh.wa.gov/.
October 6, 2009
Susan Teil Boyer
Executive Director
Board of Pharmacy