Legislative Corner

JOE ANNE HART FDA CHIEF LEGISLATIVE OFFICER

For additional information on legislative issues, you can reach Joe Anne Hart at jahart@floridadental.org or 850.350.7205.

ELECTRONIC PRESCRIBING MANDATE ONLY IF YOU MAINTAIN AN EHR

Effective July 1, 2021, all health care practitioners (including dentists) who are prescribing practitioners and maintain electronic health records (EHR), are required to generate and transmit all prescriptions electronically. An EHR is a digital version of a patient’s dental record. Typically, an EHR consists of computer hardware and software that is purchased or leased. Dentists who do not maintain EHRs are not required to prescribe prescriptions electronically and are not required to do anything further. Additionally, pharmacies are not authorized to deny your patients their prescriptions if presented on prescription paper (legitimately). The Board of Pharmacy continues to communicate this message to all pharmacists and pharmacies.

If you are a dentist who maintains an EHR and may not be able to comply with the law, you can request a waiver from complying with the electronic prescribing law. The waiver, if granted, will only be valid for no more than one year. The waiver form is available on the Board of Dentistry’s website at floridasdentistry.gov under “Resources” and then “Forms & Requests.”

The following are basis for a waiver request:

n Demonstrated economic hardship. You must provide a signed statement of no more than one page that describes the facts of the economic hardship that prevents you from electronically prescribing medicinal drugs.

n Technological limitations that are not reasonably within your control. You must provide a signed statement of no more than one page that sets for the technological limitations that are not within your control that prevent you from electronically prescribing medicinal drugs.

n Other demonstrated exceptional circumstance. State the circumstance that prevents you from electronically prescribing. You must provide a signed statement of no more than one page that describes the exceptional circumstance that prevents you from electronically prescribing medicinal drugs.

If you meet any of the following listed below, you are not required to prescribe electronically:

n the practitioner or patient determines that it’s in the best interest of the patient to compare prescription drug prices among area pharmacies, and such determination is documented in the patient’s medical record.

n the practitioner and the dispenser are the same entity.

n the prescription cannot be transmitted electronically under the most recently implemented version of the National

Council for Prescription Drug Programs SCRIPT program.

n the practitioner had been issued a waiver by the Department of Health, not to exceed one year, due to demonstrated economic hardship or technological limitations not reasonably within the practitioner’s control or other exceptional circumstances.

n the practitioner determines that it’s impractical for a patient to obtain in a timely manner a drug electronically prescribed and that the delay would adversely impact the patient’s medical condition.

n the practitioner is prescribing a drug under a research protocol.

n the prescription is for a drug for which the Food and Drug Administration requires the prescription to contain elements that may not be included in electronic prescribing.

n the prescription is issued to an individual receiving hospice care or who is a resident of a nursing home facility.

An EHR is a digital version of a patient’s dental record. Typically, an EHR consists of computer hardware and software that is purchased or leased. ”