SF 2184

as introduced - 91st Legislature (2019 - 2020) Posted on 05/28/2020 10:54am

A bill for an act
relating to health; allowing telemedicine evaluations to be used to prescribe
medications for erectile dysfunction; amending Minnesota Statutes 2018, section
151.37, subdivision 2.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2018, section 151.37, subdivision 2, is amended to read:

Subd. 2.

Prescribing and filing.

(a) A licensed practitioner in the course of professional
practice only, may prescribe, administer, and dispense a legend drug, and may cause the
same to be administered by a nurse, a physician assistant, or medical student or resident
under the practitioner's direction and supervision, and may cause a person who is an
appropriately certified, registered, or licensed health care professional to prescribe, dispense,
and administer the same within the expressed legal scope of the person's practice as defined
in Minnesota Statutes. A licensed practitioner may prescribe a legend drug, without reference
to a specific patient, by directing a licensed dietitian or licensed nutritionist, pursuant to
section 148.634; a nurse, pursuant to section 148.235, subdivisions 8 and 9; physician
assistant; medical student or resident; or pharmacist according to section 151.01, subdivision
27, to adhere to a particular practice guideline or protocol when treating patients whose
condition falls within such guideline or protocol, and when such guideline or protocol
specifies the circumstances under which the legend drug is to be prescribed and administered.
An individual who verbally, electronically, or otherwise transmits a written, oral, or electronic
order, as an agent of a prescriber, shall not be deemed to have prescribed the legend drug.
This paragraph applies to a physician assistant only if the physician assistant meets the
requirements of section 147A.18.

(b) The commissioner of health, if a licensed practitioner, or a person designated by the
commissioner who is a licensed practitioner, may prescribe a legend drug to an individual
or by protocol for mass dispensing purposes where the commissioner finds that the conditions
triggering section 144.4197 or 144.4198, subdivision 2, paragraph (b), exist. The
commissioner, if a licensed practitioner, or a designated licensed practitioner, may prescribe,
dispense, or administer a legend drug or other substance listed in subdivision 10 to control
tuberculosis and other communicable diseases. The commissioner may modify state drug
labeling requirements, and medical screening criteria and documentation, where time is
critical and limited labeling and screening are most likely to ensure legend drugs reach the
maximum number of persons in a timely fashion so as to reduce morbidity and mortality.

(c) A licensed practitioner that dispenses for profit a legend drug that is to be administered
orally, is ordinarily dispensed by a pharmacist, and is not a vaccine, must file with the
practitioner's licensing board a statement indicating that the practitioner dispenses legend
drugs for profit, the general circumstances under which the practitioner dispenses for profit,
and the types of legend drugs generally dispensed. It is unlawful to dispense legend drugs
for profit after July 31, 1990, unless the statement has been filed with the appropriate
licensing board. For purposes of this paragraph, "profit" means (1) any amount received by
the practitioner in excess of the acquisition cost of a legend drug for legend drugs that are
purchased in prepackaged form, or (2) any amount received by the practitioner in excess
of the acquisition cost of a legend drug plus the cost of making the drug available if the
legend drug requires compounding, packaging, or other treatment. The statement filed under
this paragraph is public data under section 13.03. This paragraph does not apply to a licensed
doctor of veterinary medicine or a registered pharmacist. Any person other than a licensed
practitioner with the authority to prescribe, dispense, and administer a legend drug under
paragraph (a) shall not dispense for profit. To dispense for profit does not include dispensing
by a community health clinic when the profit from dispensing is used to meet operating
expenses.

(d) A prescription drug order for the following drugs is not valid, unless it can be
established that the prescription drug order was based on a documented patient evaluation,
including an examination, adequate to establish a diagnosis and identify underlying conditions
and contraindications to treatment:

(1) controlled substance drugs listed in section 152.02, subdivisions 3 to 5;

(2) drugs defined by the Board of Pharmacy as controlled substances under section
152.02, subdivisions 7, 8, and 12;

(3) muscle relaxants;

(4) centrally acting analgesics with opioid activity;

(5) drugs containing butalbital; or

(6) phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors when used to treat erectile dysfunction.

new text begin For purposes of prescribing drugs listed in clause (6), the requirement for a documented
patient evaluation, including an examination, may be met through the use of telemedicine,
as defined in section 147.033, subdivision 1.
new text end

(e) For the purposes of paragraph (d), the requirement for an examination shall be met
if an in-person examination has been completed in any of the following circumstances:

(1) the prescribing practitioner examines the patient at the time the prescription or drug
order is issued;

(2) the prescribing practitioner has performed a prior examination of the patient;

(3) another prescribing practitioner practicing within the same group or clinic as the
prescribing practitioner has examined the patient;

(4) a consulting practitioner to whom the prescribing practitioner has referred the patient
has examined the patient; or

(5) the referring practitioner has performed an examination in the case of a consultant
practitioner issuing a prescription or drug order when providing services by means of
telemedicine.

(f) Nothing in paragraph (d) or (e) prohibits a licensed practitioner from prescribing a
drug through the use of a guideline or protocol pursuant to paragraph (a).

(g) Nothing in this chapter prohibits a licensed practitioner from issuing a prescription
or dispensing a legend drug in accordance with the Expedited Partner Therapy in the
Management of Sexually Transmitted Diseases guidance document issued by the United
States Centers for Disease Control.

(h) Nothing in paragraph (d) or (e) limits prescription, administration, or dispensing of
legend drugs through a public health clinic or other distribution mechanism approved by
the commissioner of health or a community health board in order to prevent, mitigate, or
treat a pandemic illness, infectious disease outbreak, or intentional or accidental release of
a biological, chemical, or radiological agent.

(i) No pharmacist employed by, under contract to, or working for a pharmacy located
within the state and licensed under section 151.19, subdivision 1, may dispense a legend
drug based on a prescription that the pharmacist knows, or would reasonably be expected
to know, is not valid under paragraph (d).

(j) No pharmacist employed by, under contract to, or working for a pharmacy located
outside the state and licensed under section 151.19, subdivision 1, may dispense a legend
drug to a resident of this state based on a prescription that the pharmacist knows, or would
reasonably be expected to know, is not valid under paragraph (d).

(k) Nothing in this chapter prohibits the commissioner of health, if a licensed practitioner,
or, if not a licensed practitioner, a designee of the commissioner who is a licensed
practitioner, from prescribing legend drugs for field-delivered therapy in the treatment of
a communicable disease according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention Partner
Services Guidelines.