Refills of prescription medication
ISSUE SUMMARY
When patients receive care at a hospital emergency department or within a “teaching setting” such as a university hospital, they may receive limited quantity, one-time prescriptions to address immediate complaints. Patients are usually directed to request future refills of those prescription medicines from their primary care physician who can actively monitor their ongoing care.
Often, when pharmacies “auto-request” prescription refills on a patient’s behalf, those requests are sent to the hospital-based physician or the resident who wrote the original prescription rather than the physician presently managing the patient’s care. This practice creates unnecessary work for hospitalists, residency administrators, residents and pharmacies as they work to identify the appropriate physician to approve the refill request and update records to reflect the new “prescribing physician.”
ADOPTED ACTION OR POLICY
The Kansas Medical Society will work with the Council of Academic Physicians, the Kansas Board of Pharmacy and other appropriate groups to study issues relating to the problem of prescription refills when the prescribing physician is no longer responsible for the care of the patient. KMS staff is directed to update the KMS Council on the progress toward resolution of this issue prior to the 2012 House of Delegates meeting.
Adopted by the KMS House of Delegates on April 30, 2011.
