Controlled Substances and the Pharmacist - Webinar By GlobalCompliancePanel 2011

Overview: The public media has been reporting the abuse of narcotic drugs prescribed for pain management with its focus on the legitimacy of prescriptions and the dispensing by a pharmacist. Both federal and state regulations have placed the responsibilities on the physician who wrote the prescription and the pharmacist who filled the prescription.

Today`s pharmacists will need to familiarize themselves with the stringent laws and regulations enforced by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) through their Office of Diversion Control (Diversion). Since the focus of any DEA investigation is the legitimacy of a prescription, the initial target is the pharmacist who fulfilled the prescription. The pharmacy may be inspected in order to determine their handling of controlled substances purchased and dispensed as a prescription. The inspection targets record-keeping requirements, security of all controlled substances, and review of dispensed prescriptions.

Class participants will familiarize themselves with federal laws and DEA regulations requirements for handling of Schedules II though V controlled substances in a pharmacy setting and the record-keeping and security responsibilities placed on the pharmacist.

Areas Covered in the Session:

• Discuss the types of federal criminal and civil actions that can be imposed on a pharmacy pertaining to the purchase, sale, transfer, dispensing, destruction and theft or loss of Schedules II through V controlled substances.
  
• Identify the responsibilities of DEA through their Diversion personnel to enforce federal laws and DEA regulations on the dispensing of controlled substances through a prescription.
  
• Discuss the steps that a pharmacy can use to determine the legitimacy of a prescription and when the pharmacist would need to discuss the necessity for the prescription and the individual treatment plan leading to the prescribing of a narcotic as part of the patient care.
  
• Discuss DEA record-keeping requirements pertaining to: Biennial Inventory; Executed or Voided DEA Form 222 and Invoices; Power of Attorney; Theft and Loss; Drug Destruction; and the Storage of Prescriptions.
  
• Identify DEA security requirements pertaining to: Alarm Systems; Pharmacy Security; Hiring of Employees; Proper Drug Disposal; Prevention of Thefts and Losses; and other security issues.
  
• Review DEA requirements pertaining to the filling of controlled substance prescriptions. This includes electronic prescriptions, a 90-day supply of a Schedule II drug, and prescriptions written for opioid dependency patients.

Who Will Benefit: Most participants of this presentation are pharmacists, pharmacy students, pharmacy owners, and regulatory personnel including members of a state Board of Pharmacy or Department of Health.