(1) The Pharmacy Law provides for the licensing and regulation of pharmacists by the California State Board of Pharmacy in the Department of Consumer Affairs. The law specifies the functions pharmacists are authorized to perform, including to administer, orally or topically, drugs and biologicals pursuant to a prescriber’s order, and to administer immunizations pursuant to a protocol with a prescriber. A violation of the Pharmacy Law is a crime.

This bill would would, beginning July 1, 2018, authorize a pharmacist to dispense a Schedule II controlled substance as a partial fill if requested by the patient or the prescriber. The bill would require the pharmacy to retain the original prescription, with a notation of how much of the prescription has been filled, the date and amount of each partial fill, and the initials of the pharmacist dispensing each partial fill, until the prescription has been fully dispensed. The bill would authorize a pharmacist to charge a professional dispensing fee to cover the actual supply and labor costs associated with dispensing each partial fill associated with the original prescription. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

(2) Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health facilities by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law requires a health facility, as a condition of licensure, to include pain as an item to be assessed at the same time vital signs are taken and to ensure that pain assessment is performed in a consistent manner that is appropriate to the patient.

This bill would remove the requirement that pain be assessed at the same time as vital signs.

(3) Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975 (Knox-Keene Act), provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care, and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law imposes various requirements and restrictions on health care service plan contracts issued by health care service plans and health insurance policies issued by health insurers, including those that cover prescription drug benefits, as specified.

This bill would prohibit a health care service plan contract or a health insurance policy that is issued, amended, or renewed on or after January July 1, 2018, from allowing the health care service plan, the insurer, or the entity with which either contracts to administer prescription drug benefits from considering a copayment or any portion thereof, or the payment for the ingredient costs of the drug, paid to a pharmacy for a partial fill of a prescription, to be an excess payment recoverable by the plan, the insurer, or the contracting entity or a basis for denial of the pharmacy’s claim for reimbursement for the medication. The bill would also require a health care service plan and an insurer to prorate a copayment for a partial fill of a prescription. By creating a new crime under the Knox-Keene Act, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

(4) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.