New Order Allows Certain Prescription Refills Without Having To See A Doctor

Order Avoids Trips To The Doctor For Elderly And Vulnerable Patients, While Freeing Up Physician

Many elderly and at-risk Arizonans are coming up on a dilemma: schedule a potentially risky appointment with a doctor to refill a prescription or go without needed medication.

An Executive Order issued by Governor Doug Ducey today provides a solution by allowing pharmacists to dispense emergency refills of maintenance medications for a 90-day supply and an additional 90-day supply if needed. Under the order, Arizonans would be able to receive a refill on their medication for up to 180 days, while avoiding the trip to the doctor.

“We want to make sure our seniors and vulnerable populations are staying safe and physically distancing to the greatest extent possible, while having access to needed medications,” said Governor Ducey. “This commonsense order will also help free up physicians to focus on providing critical medical services at this time.”

The Executive Order takes effect today, April 2. Under the order, the Board of Pharmacy will:

• Allow pharmacists to dispense emergency refills of maintenance medications for a 90-day supply and an additional 90-day supply if needed;
• Waive certain electronic prescribing requirements;
• Extend the requirement for a prescriber to deliver a follow-up paper prescription to the pharmacy from seven days to 15 days;
• Allow a phone-in prescription to be sent to the pharmacy via fax, scan, or photo as long as the original, hard copy prescription is kept by the prescriber;
• Waive certain hospital prescribing labeling restrictions for multidose medications;
• Allow pharmacists to interchange therapeutically equivalent medications of the same FDA drug classification unless the prescriber has noted that the medication shall be dispensed as written;
• Waive the requirement for companies producing hand sanitizer to be permitted;
• And allow an Arizona pharmacy to receive pharmaceuticals from an unpermitted wholesaler, third-party logistics provider, or manufacturer located in another state or country to alleviate pharmaceutical shortages.

The Executive Order also outlines new requirements when filling hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine; including limiting the prescription to a 14-day supply, requiring that a prescription must be presented with a diagnosis code for COVID-19 from the prescriber, and more.

View the Executive Order HERE.