Make a donation to the Advocacy Center!
As of July 1, 2006, there are two legal changes that took effect regarding emergency prescription refills:
FS 252.358 states that the licensees of the Office of Insurance Regulation that provide prescription coverage are to suspend "refill too soon" rejections for refilling prescriptions in the following circumstances:
1. The person seeking the prescription medication refill resides in a county that:
(a) is under a hurricane warning issued by the National Weather Service;
(b) is declared to be under a state of emergency in an executive order issued by the Governor; or
(c) has activated its emergency operations center and its emergency management plan
2. The prescription medication refill is requested within 30 days after the origination date of the conditions stated in this section...
Please note that this does not require an executive order - the suspension is supposed to occur when the conditions are met. There is a process in place to communicate with prescription benefit providers in these instances.
Also note that this does not require pharmacists to fill prescriptions that, in their judgment, should not be filled, nor does it give permission to refill medications without a valid prescription.
FS 465.0275 has been amended
Pharmacists always have the ability to dispense an emergency 72-hour supply of a prescription medication, with certain restrictions and requirements, as dictated by the law. The change indicates that the Governor may include language in his executive order which authorizes pharmacists to dispense up to a 30-day supply without refill authorization from the prescriber, with the same restrictions and requirements.
Note that this does require a supplemental order from the governor, and would usually not be approved until after an event.
Yes, this aligns with Medicaid rescinding the "refill too soon" rejection prior to hurricanes, and the executive orders that were issued in 2004 & 2005. Past experiences prove that communication is swift and from multiple levels, such as by faxes from the Florida Pharmacy Association & Board of Pharmacy, email & phone calls from district managers, and messaging from pharmaceutical benefits managers with the online adjudication of prescription refills.
The Department of Health doesn't regulate pharmacies to that extent (i.e., requiring specific inventory levels), so there isn't a requirement for pharmacies to do so. So, each pharmacy will probably have individual inventory strategies. Many pharmacists, however, order heavy in anticipation of a hurricane, even though most pharmacies generally keep lean inventories.
You may also be interested in a system that is being set up by the largest pharmaceutical benefits managers and pharmacies to provide patient prescription drug profiles to physicians and pharmacists after a disaster - it is called ICERx (In Case of Emergency Rx), and information is available at ICERx.org.
| Home | About Us | Teams | Intake | News & Recent Publications |
| Employment Opportunities | Links | Contact Information | Email Us |
To receive this document in alternate accessible formats, call us at 1-800-342-0823.
Si su idioma primario es español, la ayuda está disponible en 1-800-350-4566.
- 
- -
