AN ACT
1-1 relating to the prescription forms used under the Texas Controlled
1-2 Substances Act.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subdivision (47), Section 481.002, Health and
1-5 Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-6 (47) "Official prescription form" means a prescription
1-7 form that contains the prescription information required by Section
1-8 481.075 [and to which is affixed a prescription sticker].
1-9 SECTION 2. Subsection (n), Section 481.074, Health and
1-10 Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-11 (n) A pharmacist may permit the delivery of a controlled
1-12 substance to a person not known to the pharmacist, a pharmacist
1-13 intern, or the authorized delivery person without first requiring
1-14 the identification of the person to whom the controlled substance
1-15 is delivered if the pharmacist determines that an emergency exists
1-16 and that the controlled substance is needed for the immediate
1-17 well-being of the patient for whom the controlled substance is
1-18 prescribed. If a pharmacist permits delivery of a controlled
1-19 substance under this subsection, the pharmacist shall retain in the
1-20 records of the pharmacy for a period of not less than two years all
1-21 information relevant to the delivery known to the pharmacist,
1-22 including the name, address, and date of birth or age of the person
1-23 to whom the controlled substance is delivered. [The pharmacist
1-24 shall also retain in the records of the pharmacy for a period of
2-1 not less than two years the patient identification number of the
2-2 person to whom the controlled substance is delivered if the person
2-3 has such a number and that number is required by the prescribing
2-4 practitioner.]
2-5 SECTION 3. Subsections (a) through (e), (i), (k), (l), and
2-6 (m), Section 481.075, Health and Safety Code, are amended to read
2-7 as follows:
2-8 (a) A practitioner who prescribes a controlled substance
2-9 listed in Schedule II shall, except as provided by rule adopted
2-10 under Section 481.0761, record the prescription on an official [a]
2-11 prescription form that includes the information required by this
2-12 section [and affix to the form a prescription sticker issued by the
2-13 director under this section].
2-14 (b) Each official prescription form [sticker] must be
2-15 sequentially numbered [and produced in a manner that makes
2-16 impossible removal of the sticker from the prescription form to
2-17 which it is affixed].
2-18 (c) The director shall issue official prescription forms
2-19 [stickers] to practitioners for a fee covering the actual cost of
2-20 printing, processing, and mailing the forms [stickers] at 100
2-21 [stickers] a package. Before mailing or otherwise delivering
2-22 prescription forms [stickers] to a practitioner, the director shall
2-23 print on each form [sticker] the number of the form [sticker] and
2-24 any other information the director determines is necessary.
2-25 (d) A person may not obtain an official [a] prescription
2-26 form [sticker] unless the person is a practitioner as defined by
3-1 Section 481.002(39)(A) or an institutional practitioner.
3-2 (e) Each official prescription form used to prescribe a
3-3 Schedule II controlled substance must contain:
3-4 (1) information provided by the prescribing
3-5 practitioner, including:
3-6 (A) the date the prescription is written;
3-7 (B) the controlled substance prescribed;
3-8 (C) the quantity of controlled substance
3-9 prescribed, shown numerically followed by the number written as a
3-10 word;
3-11 (D) the intended use of the controlled substance
3-12 or the diagnosis for which it is prescribed and the instructions
3-13 for use of the substance;
3-14 (E) the practitioner's name, address, and
3-15 Federal Drug Enforcement Administration number; and
3-16 (F) the name, address, and date of birth or
3-17 age[, and patient identification number] of the person for whom the
3-18 controlled substance is prescribed;
3-19 (2) information provided by the dispensing pharmacist,
3-20 including the date the prescription is filled; and
3-21 (3) the signatures of the prescribing practitioner and
3-22 the dispensing pharmacist.
3-23 (i) Each dispensing pharmacist shall:
3-24 (1) fill in on the official prescription form each
3-25 item of information given orally to the dispensing pharmacy under
3-26 Subsection (h), the date the prescription is filled, and the
4-1 dispensing pharmacist's signature;
4-2 (2) retain with the records of the pharmacy for at
4-3 least two years:
4-4 (A) the official prescription form; and
4-5 (B) the name or other patient identification
4-6 required by Section 481.074(m) or (n); and
4-7 (3) send all information required by the director,
4-8 including any information required to complete an official
4-9 prescription form, to the director by electronic transfer[, a
4-10 universal claim form customarily used by pharmaceutical service
4-11 providers,] or another [other] form approved by the director,
4-12 including a universal claim form customarily used by pharmaceutical
4-13 services providers, not later than the 30th day after the date the
4-14 prescription is filled or not later than the 30th day after the
4-15 completion of a prescription dispensed under Section 481.074(f).
4-16 (k) Not later than the 30th day after the date a
4-17 practitioner's department registration number, Federal Drug
4-18 Enforcement Administration number, or license to practice has been
4-19 denied, suspended, canceled, surrendered, or revoked, the
4-20 practitioner shall return to the department all official
4-21 prescription forms [stickers] in the practitioner's possession that
4-22 have not been used for prescriptions.
4-23 (l) Each prescribing practitioner:
4-24 (1) may use an official [a] prescription form
4-25 [sticker] only to prescribe a controlled substance;
4-26 (2) shall date or sign an official prescription form
5-1 only on the date the prescription is issued; and
5-2 (3) shall take reasonable precautionary measures to
5-3 ensure that an official [a] prescription form [sticker] issued to
5-4 the practitioner is not used by another person to violate this
5-5 subchapter or a rule adopted under this subchapter.
5-6 (m) A pharmacy in this state may fill a prescription for a
5-7 controlled substance listed in Schedule II issued by a practitioner
5-8 in another state if:
5-9 (1) a [substantial] share of the pharmacy's business
5-10 involves the dispensing and delivery or mailing of controlled
5-11 substances;
5-12 (2) the prescription is issued by a prescribing
5-13 practitioner in the other state in the ordinary course of practice;
5-14 and
5-15 (3) the prescription is filled in compliance with a
5-16 written plan providing the manner in which the pharmacy may fill a
5-17 Schedule II prescription issued by a practitioner in another state
5-18 that:
5-19 (A) is submitted by the pharmacy to the
5-20 director; and
5-21 (B) is approved by the director in consultation
5-22 with the Texas State Board of Pharmacy.
5-23 SECTION 4. Subsections (g) and (h), Section 481.076, Health
5-24 and Safety Code, are amended to read as follows:
5-25 (g) If the director permits access to information under
5-26 Subsection (a)(3)(A) relating to a person licensed or regulated by
6-1 an agency listed in Subsection (a)(1), the director shall notify
6-2 that agency of the disclosure of the information not later than the
6-3 10th working day after the date the information is disclosed
6-4 [unless:]
6-5 [(1) the person to whom the information is disclosed
6-6 requests the director to withhold notification to the agency; and]
6-7 [(2) the director determines that notification is
6-8 reasonably likely to interfere with an administrative or criminal
6-9 investigation or prosecution].
6-10 (h) If the director withholds notification to an agency
6-11 under Subsection (f)[(g)], the director shall notify the agency of
6-12 the disclosure of the information and the reason for withholding
6-13 notification when the director determines that notification is no
6-14 longer likely to interfere with an administrative or criminal
6-15 investigation or prosecution.
6-16 SECTION 5. The following Health and Safety Code provisions
6-17 are repealed:
6-18 (1) Subdivisions (51), (53), (54), and (55), Section
6-19 481.002;
6-20 (2) Subsection (n), Section 481.075;
6-21 (3) Subsection (j), Section 481.076; and
6-22 (4) Subsection (g), Section 481.0761.
6-23 SECTION 6. Section 40, Chapter 745, Acts of the 75th
6-24 Legislature, Regular Session, 1997, is amended to read as follows:
6-25 Sec. 40. The changes in law made by this Act relating to a
6-26 prescription written under the triplicate prescription program take
7-1 effect September 1, 1999, except that Section 481.0761, Health and
7-2 Safety Code, as added by this Act, takes effect September 1, 1997.
7-3 The director of the Department of Public Safety by rule may permit
7-4 the use of triplicate or single prescription forms during a period
7-5 of transition[, but not after March 1, 1999].
7-6 SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
7-7 SECTION 8. The importance of this legislation and the
7-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 254 passed the Senate on
March 11, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 6, 1999, by a
viva-voce vote.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 254 passed the House, with
amendment, on May 3, 1999, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
_______________________________
Date
_______________________________
Governor