                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

REQUIREMENTS FOR PRESCRIPTIONS (§ 54.1-3408.01)

A. The written prescription referred to in &#xA7; 54.1-3408 shall be written
with ink or individually typed or printed. The prescription shall contain the
name, address, and telephone number of the prescriber. A prescription for a
controlled substance other than one controlled in Schedule VI shall also contain
the federal controlled substances registration number assigned to the
prescriber. The prescriber&#8217;s information shall be either preprinted upon
the prescription blank, electronically printed, typewritten, rubber stamped, or
printed by hand.
			The written prescription shall contain the first and last name of the patient
for whom the drug is prescribed. The address of the patient shall either be
placed upon the written prescription by the prescriber or his agent, or by the
dispenser of the prescription. If the prescriber is providing expedited partner
therapy pursuant to &#xA7; 54.1-3303 and the contact patient&#8217;s name and
address are unavailable, then &#8220;Expedited Partner Therapy&#8221; or
&#8220;EPT&#8221; shall be affixed on the written prescription, in lieu of the
contact patient&#8217;s name and address. If not otherwise prohibited by law,
the dispenser may record the address of the patient in an electronic
prescription dispensing record for that patient in lieu of recording it on the
prescription. Each written prescription shall be dated as of, and signed by the
prescriber on, the day when issued. The prescription may be prepared by an agent
for the prescriber&#8217;s signature.
			This section shall not prohibit a prescriber from using preprinted
prescriptions for drugs classified in Schedule VI if all requirements concerning
dates, signatures, and other information specified above are otherwise
fulfilled.
			No written prescription order form shall include more than one prescription.
However, this provision shall not apply (i) to prescriptions written as chart
orders for patients in hospitals and long-term-care facilities, patients
receiving home infusion services or hospice patients, or (ii) to a prescription
ordered through a pharmacy operated by or for the Department of Corrections or
the Department of Juvenile Justice, the central pharmacy of the Department of
Health, or the central outpatient pharmacy operated by the Department of
Behavioral Health and Developmental Services; or (iii) to prescriptions written
for patients residing in adult and juvenile detention centers, local or regional
jails, or work release centers operated by the Department of Corrections.

B. Prescribers&#8217; orders, whether written as chart orders or prescriptions,
for Schedules II, III, IV, and V controlled drugs to be administered to (i)
patients or residents of long-term care facilities served by a Virginia pharmacy
from a remote location or (ii) patients receiving parenteral, intravenous,
intramuscular, subcutaneous or intraspinal infusion therapy and served by a home
infusion pharmacy from a remote location, may be transmitted to that remote
pharmacy by an electronic communications device over telephone lines which send
the exact image to the receiver in hard copy form, and such facsimile copy shall
be treated as a valid original prescription order. If the order is for a
radiopharmaceutical, a physician authorized by state or federal law to possess
and administer medical radioactive materials may authorize a nuclear medicine
technologist to transmit a prescriber&#8217;s verbal or written orders for
radiopharmaceuticals.

C. The oral prescription referred to in &#xA7; 54.1-3408 shall be transmitted to
the pharmacy of the patient&#8217;s choice by the prescriber or his authorized
agent. For the purposes of this section, an authorized agent of the prescriber
shall be an employee of the prescriber who is under his immediate and personal
supervision, or if not an employee, an individual who holds a valid license
allowing the administration or dispensing of drugs and who is specifically
directed by the prescriber.

HISTORY: 2000, cc. 135, 861; 2002, c. 411; 2003, c. 639; 2006, c. 195; 2009, cc.
813, 840; 2020, c. 464.