Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Health Professions
 
Board
Board of Pharmacy
 
chapter
Regulations Governing the Practice of Pharmacy [18 VAC 110 ‑ 20]
Action Delivery of dispensed prescriptions; labeling
Stage NOIRA
Comment Period Ended on 11/28/2018
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11/28/18  7:39 pm
Commenter: Otto Wachsmann

Label requirements for pharmacy address and phone number on the label.
 

Personally and professionally, I believe the label should clearly indicate both Pharmacy's names and phone numbers so patients and their healthcare providers may access appropriate information when necessary.  At least one major mail order provider (not CVS) lists the phone number for the patient call center on their label and not the address of the pharmacy.  When calling for information about the prescription using the number on the bottle one calls the number, they can spend several minutes providing the prescription and patient information to an automated system.  Then a customer service agent gets on the line where the same information is verified, then it is transferred to the pharmacy and a pharmacy technician even in another state re-verifies the prescription and then it is forwarded to a pharmacist where it is verified again.  This can take 15 minutes which is an awful lot of time when a healthcare provider needs to tend to other patients.  It is also very confusing to the patient.  Shouldn't they have control over who fills their prescriptions and be able to address them directly?  Shouldn't both pharmacies be listed so there is no question to the patient what is going on here?  What does a patient do when they have two prescriptions picked up at their local pharmacy and for whatever reason those prescriptions were filled remotely at two different central fill pharmacies for that local pharmacy?  Yes, having both names on the label can be confusing to the patient but the patient didn't create this confusion.  Many of these regulations were initially created for the patient's benefit.  It needs to be clear to the patient who and where their prescription is being filled and how to contact their pharmacist directly for questions.  

 

CommentID: 68800