South Carolina § 44-117-320 - Electronic transmission of prescriptions; required conditions; use of routing company.

§ 44-117-320. Electronic transmission of prescriptions; required conditions; use of routing company.

(A) A practitioner may electronically transmit a prescription to a pharmacy if all of these conditions are met:

(1) A valid practitioner/patient relationship must exist.

(2) The prescription must identify the transmitter's phone number, the time and date of transmission, and the pharmacy intended to receive the transmission and any other information required by federal or state law.

(3) The prescription must be transmitted by the authorized practitioner or the practitioner's designated agent to the pharmacy of the patient's choice, and the prescription must be received only by a pharmacy, with no intervening person or entity having access to view, read, manipulate, alter, store, or delete the electronic prescription prior to its receipt at the pharmacy.

(4) The prescription must be transmitted to the pharmacy of the patient's choice. If the pharmacy of the patient's choice is not equipped with the capability to accept an electronic prescription, the practitioner shall provide the patient with a written prescription, telephone an oral prescription, or transmit via facsimile to the pharmacy of the patient's choice.

(5) The prescription must have the practitioner's electronic or digital signature or key code.

(6) The prescription must be sent directly from the practitioner to the receiving pharmacy of the patient's choice. If an electronic prescription is printed out, it must possess an original handwritten signature before being delivered to a patient. If a prescription is a hard copy prescription drug order generated from electronic media, a prescribing practitioner's electronic or manual signature must be present. Prescriptions with electronic signatures must be applied to paper that utilizes security features that will ensure the prescription drug order is not subject to any form of copying or alteration.

(B) An electronically transmitted prescription is deemed the original prescription drug order if it meets the requirements of this article and other applicable laws and regulations.

(C)(1) Nothing in this article may be construed to prohibit a practitioner from using a routing company to transmit a prescription pursuant to this article, except that a routing company shall provide its tax identification number to the Board of Pharmacy before offering its services in this State.

(2) A routing company:

(a) may, for the purpose of verifying an audit conducted of the routing company, store any prescription or other confidential information it receives or transmits pursuant to this article in a form that is secure and ensures the confidentiality of the information in compliance with federal and state privacy law; and

(b) may not add a provision to, delete a provision from, or otherwise modify a prescription or any other confidential information that it receives or transmits pursuant to this article.

HISTORY: 2007 Act No. 71, SECTION 4.A, eff June 13, 2007.