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Senate Bill 594 |
Senate Author: Van de Putte et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-11 |
House Sponsor: Zerwas |
Senate Bill 594 amends the Health and Safety Code, Government Code, and Occupations Code to provide the option for a practitioner to record an electronic prescription of a Schedule II controlled substance that includes the information otherwise required to be contained in an official written prescription form and sets out certain requirements relating to an electronic prescription for a prescribing physician and a dispensing pharmacist. The bill requires the quantity of a controlled substance prescribed electronically to be shown numerically and requires an electronic prescription to contain the prescribing practitioner's electronic signature or other secure method of validation. The bill changes the deadline by which each dispensing pharmacist is required to send to the director of the Department of Public Safety (DPS) information relating to a prescription, establishes a deadline for providing DPS a Federal Drug Enforcement Administration number, and removes the requirement that a practitioner's department registration number be shown in a prescription or included in the official prescription form for a controlled substance. The bill authorizes the director to permit an investigator for the Texas Board of Nursing to have access to certain official prescription information.