Senate Bill sb0692

    Florida Senate - 2007                                   SB 692

    By Senator Saunders





    37-433A-07

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to physician assistants;

  3         amending s. 458.347, F.S.; requiring that a

  4         prescription be filled in a pharmacy unless it

  5         is a drug dispensed by a physician assistant;

  6         providing an effective date.

  7  

  8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

  9  

10         Section 1.  Paragraph (e) of subsection (4) of section

11  458.347, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:

12         458.347  Physician assistants.--

13         (4)  PERFORMANCE OF PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS.--

14         (e)  A supervisory physician may delegate to a fully

15  licensed physician assistant the authority to prescribe any

16  medication used in the supervisory physician's practice unless

17  such medication is listed on the formulary created pursuant to

18  paragraph (f). A fully licensed physician assistant may only

19  prescribe such medication under the following circumstances:

20         1.  A physician assistant must clearly identify to the

21  patient that he or she is a physician assistant. Furthermore,

22  the physician assistant must inform the patient that the

23  patient has the right to see the physician prior to any

24  prescription being prescribed by the physician assistant.

25         2.  The supervisory physician must notify the

26  department of his or her intent to delegate, on a

27  department-approved form, before delegating such authority and

28  notify the department of any change in prescriptive privileges

29  of the physician assistant.

30         3.  The physician assistant must file with the

31  department, before commencing to prescribe, evidence that he

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    Florida Senate - 2007                                   SB 692
    37-433A-07




 1  or she has completed a continuing medical education course of

 2  at least 3 classroom hours in prescriptive practice, conducted

 3  by an accredited program approved by the boards, which course

 4  covers the limitations, responsibilities, and privileges

 5  involved in prescribing medicinal drugs, or evidence that he

 6  or she has received education comparable to the continuing

 7  education course as part of an accredited physician assistant

 8  training program.

 9         4.  The physician assistant must file with the

10  department, before commencing to prescribe, evidence that the

11  physician assistant has a minimum of 3 months of clinical

12  experience in the specialty area of the supervising physician.

13         5.  The physician assistant must file with the

14  department a signed affidavit that he or she has completed a

15  minimum of 10 continuing medical education hours in the

16  specialty practice in which the physician assistant has

17  prescriptive privileges with each licensure renewal

18  application.

19         6.  The department shall issue a license and a

20  prescriber number to the physician assistant granting

21  authority for the prescribing of medicinal drugs authorized

22  within this paragraph upon completion of the foregoing

23  requirements.

24         7.  The prescription must be written in a form that

25  complies with chapter 499 and must contain, in addition to the

26  supervisory physician's name, address, and telephone number,

27  the physician assistant's prescriber number. Unless it is a

28  drug  sample  dispensed by the physician assistant, the

29  prescription must be filled in a pharmacy permitted under

30  chapter 465 and must be dispensed in that pharmacy by a

31  pharmacist licensed under chapter 465. The appearance of the

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    Florida Senate - 2007                                   SB 692
    37-433A-07




 1  prescriber number creates a presumption that the physician

 2  assistant is authorized to prescribe the medicinal drug and

 3  the prescription is valid.

 4         8.  The physician assistant must note the prescription

 5  in the appropriate medical record, and the supervisory

 6  physician must review and sign each notation. For dispensing

 7  purposes only, the failure of the supervisory physician to

 8  comply with these requirements does not affect the validity of

 9  the prescription.

10         9.  This paragraph does not prohibit a supervisory

11  physician from delegating to a physician assistant the

12  authority to order medication for a hospitalized patient of

13  the supervisory physician.

14  

15  This paragraph does not apply to facilities licensed pursuant

16  to chapter 395.

17         Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2007.

18  

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20                          SENATE SUMMARY

21    Requires a prescription to be filled in a pharmacy unless
      it is a drug dispensed by a physician assistant.
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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.