HB 1007

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to physician assistants; amending s.
3	458.347, F.S.; requiring that a prescription be filled in
4	a pharmacy unless it is a drug dispensed by a physician
5	assistant; providing an effective date.
6
7	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
8
9	Section 1.  Paragraph (e) of subsection (4) of section
10	458.347, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
11	458.347  Physician assistants.--
12	(4)  PERFORMANCE OF PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS.--
13	(e)  A supervisory physician may delegate to a fully
14	licensed physician assistant the authority to prescribe any
15	medication used in the supervisory physician's practice unless
16	such medication is listed on the formulary created pursuant to
17	paragraph (f). A fully licensed physician assistant may only
18	prescribe such medication under the following circumstances:
19	1.  A physician assistant must clearly identify to the
20	patient that he or she is a physician assistant. Furthermore,
21	the physician assistant must inform the patient that the patient
22	has the right to see the physician prior to any prescription
23	being prescribed by the physician assistant.
24	2.  The supervisory physician must notify the department of
25	his or her intent to delegate, on a department-approved form,
26	before delegating such authority and notify the department of
27	any change in prescriptive privileges of the physician
28	assistant.
29	3.  The physician assistant must file with the department,
30	before commencing to prescribe, evidence that he or she has
31	completed a continuing medical education course of at least 3
32	classroom hours in prescriptive practice, conducted by an
33	accredited program approved by the boards, which course covers
34	the limitations, responsibilities, and privileges involved in
35	prescribing medicinal drugs, or evidence that he or she has
36	received education comparable to the continuing education course
37	as part of an accredited physician assistant training program.
38	4.  The physician assistant must file with the department,
39	before commencing to prescribe, evidence that the physician
40	assistant has a minimum of 3 months of clinical experience in
41	the specialty area of the supervising physician.
42	5.  The physician assistant must file with the department a
43	signed affidavit that he or she has completed a minimum of 10
44	continuing medical education hours in the specialty practice in
45	which the physician assistant has prescriptive privileges with
46	each licensure renewal application.
47	6.  The department shall issue a license and a prescriber
48	number to the physician assistant granting authority for the
49	prescribing of medicinal drugs authorized within this paragraph
50	upon completion of the foregoing requirements.
51	7.  The prescription must be written in a form that
52	complies with chapter 499 and must contain, in addition to the
53	supervisory physician's name, address, and telephone number, the
54	physician assistant's prescriber number. A physician assistant
55	may dispense drugs provided that the supervising physician is a
56	dispensing physician. However, unless it is a drug sample
57	dispensed by the physician assistant, the prescription must be
58	filled in a pharmacy permitted under chapter 465 and must be
59	dispensed in that pharmacy by a pharmacist licensed under
60	chapter 465. The appearance of the prescriber number creates a
61	presumption that the physician assistant is authorized to
62	prescribe the medicinal drug and the prescription is valid.
63	8.  The physician assistant must note the prescription in
64	the appropriate medical record, and the supervisory physician
65	must review and sign each notation. For dispensing purposes
66	only, the failure of the supervisory physician to comply with
67	these requirements does not affect the validity of the
68	prescription.
69	9.  This paragraph does not prohibit a supervisory
70	physician from delegating to a physician assistant the authority
71	to order medication for a hospitalized patient of the
72	supervisory physician.
73
74	This paragraph does not apply to facilities licensed pursuant to
75	chapter 395.
76	Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2007.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.