Texas Register
.
The amendments are proposed under the Texas Optometry Act, Texas
Occupations Code, §351.151 and the Texas Pharmacy Act §562.015.
The Texas Optometry Board interprets §351.151 as authorizing the adoption
of procedural and substantive rules for the regulation of the optometric profession
and §562.015 as authorizing the board to direct licensees to follow statutory
dispensing directives for the communication of substitution instructions to
pharmacists.
No other section is affected by the amendments.
§280.5.Prescription and Diagnostic Drugs for Therapeutic Optometry.
(a)
A therapeutic optometrist may administer and prescribe
any drug authorized by
§351.358(a) and (b)(1) of the
[
Texas Optometry
] Act [
Articles 4552-1.02 and 1.03, as amended by
House Bill 1051, 76th Legislature, Regular Session
].
(b)
To prohibit substitution of a generically equivalent
drug product on a written prescription drug order, a therapeutic optometrist
must write across the face of the written prescription, in the therapeutic
optometrist's own handwriting, "brand necessary" or "brand medically necessary."
[
As specified in the Texas Pharmacy Act (§562.008 and §563.002,
Texas Occupations Code), written prescriptions shall be on a form which contains
two signature lines of equal prominence, side by side, at the bottom of the
form. Under either signature line shall be printed clearly the words "product
selection permitted", and under the other signature line shall be printed
clearly the words "dispense as written." A therapeutic optometrist shall communicate
dispensing instructions to a pharmacist by signing on the appropriate line.
] If the therapeutic optometrist does not clearly indicate
"brand
necessary" or "brand medically necessary,"
[
that the prescription
drug shall be dispensed as ordered,
] the pharmacist may substitute a
generically equivalent drug product in compliance with the Texas Pharmacy
Act
, §562.008 and §563.002 of the Texas Occupations Code, and §309.3
of this title
.
(c)
(No change.)
(d)
The prescribing therapeutic optometrist issuing
verbal
or electronic
[
oral
] prescription drug orders
to a pharmacist
shall furnish the same information required for a written prescription,
except for the written signature. If the therapeutic optometrist does not
clearly indicate [
that the prescription drug shall be dispensed as ordered
by writing across the face of the written prescription, in the therapeutic
optometrist's own handwriting, the phrase
] "brand necessary" or "brand
medically necessary,"
when communicating the prescription to the pharmacist,
the pharmacist may substitute a generically equivalent drug product
in compliance with the Texas Pharmacy Act and §309.3 of this title.
(e) - (j)
(No change.)
This agency hereby certifies that the proposal has been reviewed
by legal counsel and found to be within the agency's legal authority to adopt.
Filed with the Office of
the Secretary of State on March 18, 2003.
TRD-200301799
Chris Kloeris
Executive Director
Texas Optometry Board
Earliest possible date of adoption: May 4, 2003
For further information, please call: (512) 305-8502