On Monday evening, Governor Rick Scott declared a State of Emergency for Hurricane Irma. Under a State of Emergency, a pharmacist is able to refill prescriptions early. All health insurers, managed care organizations, and other entities that are licensed by the Office of Insurance Regulation and provide prescription medication coverage as part of a policy are required to waive time restrictions on prescription medication refills, which includes suspension of electronic “refill too soon” edits. The regulatory authority for this is found at section 252.358, Florida Statutes. You can read the full statute at http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0200-0299/0252/Sections/0252.358.html
In accordance with section 465.0275, F.S., pharmacists may dispense up to a 30-day refill of maintenance medication. Section 465.0275(2), F.S., states that pursuant to an emergency order, a pharmacist may dispense up to a 30-day supply in the areas or counties affected by the order provided that
· the medication is essential to the maintenance of life or to the continuation of therapy in a chronic condition.
· in the pharmacist’s professional judgment, the interruption of therapy might reasonably produce undesirable health consequences or may cause physical or mental discomfort.
· the dispensing pharmacist creates a written order containing all of the prescription information required by this chapter and chapters 499 and 893 and signs that order.
· the dispensing pharmacist notifies the prescriber of the emergency dispensing within a reasonable time after such dispensing.
However, a 30-day prescription for a medicinal drug listed in Schedule II appearing in chapter 893 is not permitted under s. 465.0275, F.S. The statute can be found at: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0400-0499/0465/Sections/0465.0275.html
In the event a pharmacist receives a request for a prescription refill and the pharmacist is unable to readily obtain refill authorization from the prescriber, the pharmacist may dispense a one-time emergency refill of up to a 72-hour supply of the prescribed medication; or a one-time emergency refill of one vial of insulin to treat diabetes mellitus.
The full version of the Governor’s Executive Order number 17-235 can be found at: http://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/orders/2017/EO_17-235.pdf
