POMA Recommendation Regarding Act 96 of 2018

Written by Executive Vice President, Public Policy and Association Affairs, Andy Sandusky

July 9, 2019 

Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act - Professional Prescription, Administration and Dispensing

Act 96 of 2018 requires electronic prescriptions for scheduled drugs II-V. The public policy intent is a very good one, which is to mitigate scheduled prescriptions falling into the wrong hands. It is likely that many POMA members already use e-scripts for their scheduled drug prescriptions. In these cases, Act 96 merely codifies in the law what you are already doing. However, what if you are a small independent POMA member?

The Department of Health is required to promulgate regulations before the effective date of the law in October 2019. As the Department continues to work on the regulations, it is putting into place a temporary exemption process via an electronic form which covers one year from the time of submission to the Department. The reasons for the request for temporary exemption is for any or all of the following: Economic Hardship, Technical Limitations and Exceptional Circumstances.

POMA recommends all physicians, who do not currently prescribe scheduled drugs using electronic format, to request a temporary exemption before the law goes into effect in October 2019.

If members have questions or concerns, they can contact Andy Sandusky at POMA [email protected] or directly to the Department of Health at [email protected].