Pennsylvania § 5204 - Guidelines.

§ 5204. Guidelines.

(a) Adoption of guidelines.--The department shall adopt and publish guidelines for the implementation of the voluntary nonopioid directive form. The guidelines shall include, but not be limited to:

(1) A standard form for the recording and transmission of the voluntary nonopioid directive form, which shall include verification by the patient's practitioner and which shall comply with the written consent requirements of the Public Health Service Act (58 Stat. 682, 42 U.S.C. § 290dd-2(b)) and 42 CFR Pt. 2 (relating to confidentiality of alcohol and drug abuse patient records), provided that the voluntary nonopioid directive form shall also provide the basic procedures necessary to revoke the voluntary nonopioid directive form.

(2) Procedures to record the voluntary nonopioid directive form in the patient's medical record or, if available, the patient's interoperable electronic medical record and in the system.

(3) Requirements and procedures for a patient to appoint a duly authorized guardian or health care proxy to override a previously filed voluntary nonopioid directive form and circumstances under which an attending practitioner may override a previously filed voluntary nonopioid directive form based on documented medical judgment which shall be recorded in the patient's medical record.

(4) Procedures to ensure that any recording, sharing or distributing of data relative to the voluntary nonopioid directive form complies with all Federal and State confidentiality laws.

(5) Appropriate exemptions for practitioners and other health care providers and emergency medical personnel to prescribe or administer a controlled substance containing an opioid when, in their professional medical judgment, a controlled substance containing an opioid is necessary.

(b) Publication.--The department shall publish the guidelines in the Pennsylvania Bulletin and on its publicly accessible Internet website.

(c) Written prescriptions.--A written prescription that is presented at an outpatient pharmacy or a prescription that is electronically transmitted to an outpatient pharmacy shall be presumed to be valid for the purposes of this section, and a pharmacist in an outpatient setting shall not be held in violation of this section for dispensing a controlled substance containing an opioid or other controlled substance in contradiction to a voluntary nonopioid directive form, except upon evidence that the pharmacist acted knowingly against the voluntary nonopioid directive form.

Cross References. Section 5204 is referred to in section 5205 of this title.