Virginia Board of Pharmacy Law Regarding Prescriptions Written for Office Use Only

Prescriptions Written for ‘Office Use

Only’

 

A pharmacy may provide prescription drugs to a physician

for office use in accordance with §54.1-3435.02

of the Drug Control Act, which states that

A permitted pharmacy may engage in wholesale

distributions of small quantities of prescription

drugs without being licensed as a wholesale

distributor when such wholesale distributions

are in compliance with federal law as follows:

such wholesale distributions of controlled

substances do not exceed five percent of

the gross annual sales of prescription drugs

by the relevant permitted pharmacy or such

wholesale distributions of Schedules II through

V controlled substances do not exceed five

percent of the total dosage units of the Schedule

II through V controlled substances dispensed

annually by the pharmacy.

Occasionally, a physician will request prescription

drugs by providing the pharmacy with a prescription

indicating “For Office Use Only” in the name field. This

does not constitute a valid prescription because it is not

issued in the name of a specific patient for a specific drug

that resulted from a bona fide practitioner-patient relationship.

Pharmacists must not dispense prescriptions

written “For Office Use Only.” To properly transfer the

requested drugs, the pharmacist must create an invoice

containing the following information: the date of transfer,

the name and address of the physician to whom the

drugs are to be transferred, the name and address of the

pharmacy from where the drugs were transferred, and

the kind and quantity of drugs transferred. The transferring

pharmacy maintains the original invoice for two

years from the date of transfer and provides a copy to

the receiving physician or pharmacy. Once received,

the physician must indicate the date of receipt on the

invoice and maintain the invoice for two years from

the date of receipt. If the requested drug is classified as

Schedule II, the physician wishing to obtain the drug

must execute a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)

Form 222 as the “purchaser” and provide this form to

the transferring pharmacy. The transferring pharmacy

would then complete DEA Form 222 acting as the “supplier”

in this instance. Copies of DEA Form 222 must

then be properly forwarded as required by federal law.

If maintaining a separate record of the distribution

electronically in the pharmacy’s computer, pharmacists

must ensure that the information is not transmitted to

the PMP with other dispensing records. Assigning a

“prescription” number to the transaction may result in

the distribution information being uploaded to the PMP
quoted from here