IMPORTANT NEW INFORMATION FOR SLMMS MEMBERS

NEW PRESCRIPTION TRANSFER REGULATION

There have been a couple of small, but important changes in the wording of the regulation CSR 2220-2.120, Transfer of Prescription Information for the Purpose of Refill. If a patient wants to have a prescription transferred to another pharmacy or benefits manager, it is no longer necessary for the doctor's office to get involved. The Pharmacy is required to do the transfer at the request of the patient within one business day.

Below is the current regulation. You can use it to educate your pharmacist, if he/she is not aware of it. Please note the following changes.

Paragraph (1) of the regulation has been changed to read “Prescription information shall be transferred for the purposes of refill between licensed pharmacies, ….” Previously, the word “shall” had been “may.” The significance of this minor change is that a phone call to you, or from you, is no longer necessary; the pharmacy is required to forward the Rx to another pharmacy at the request of the patient.

A second small change that is also significant is that an additional provision has been added which requires that: “A pharmacy shall complete the transfer within one (1) business day of receiving the request.”

We hope this information will be helpful to you and your staff when dealing with pharmacies.