Health care practitioners: electronic prescriptions.

Existing law requires health care practitioners authorized to issue prescriptions to have the capability to issue electronic data transmission prescriptions and requires a pharmacy, pharmacist, or other practitioner authorized to dispense or furnish a prescription to have the capability to receive electronic data transmission prescriptions. Existing law requires those health care practitioners to issue a prescription as an electronic data transmission prescription except under certain circumstances, including that the electronic prescription is unavailable due to a temporary technological or electrical failure. Existing law requires a pharmacy that receives an electronic prescription from a prescribing health care practitioner who has issued a prescription but has not dispensed the medication to, at the request of the patient, immediately transfer or forward the electronic prescription to an alternative pharmacy designated by the requester. This bill would prohibit a pharmacy, pharmacist, or other practitioner authorized to dispense or furnish a prescription from refusing to dispense or furnish an electronic prescription solely because the prescription was not submitted via, or is not compatible with, their proprietary software. The bill would authorize a pharmacy, pharmacist, or other authorized practitioner to decline to dispense or furnish an electronic prescription submitted via software that fails to meet any one of specified criteria, including compliance with the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The bill would establish additional exceptions to the requirement that health care practitioners issue a prescription as an electronic data transmission prescription, including for a prescriber who registers with the California State Board of Pharmacy and states that they satisfy one or more criteria, including that they issue 100 or fewer prescriptions per calendar year. The bill would make specified exceptions to the requirement for a pharmacy to immediately transfer an electronic prescription to an alternative pharmacy upon request of the patient, including if the action would result in a violation of any state or federal law.