H. B. 4509


(By Delegates Perdue, Border and Michael)

[Introduced February 17, 2004; referred to the

Committee on Health and Human Resources then the Judiciary.]





A BILL to amend the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §30-5-26, relating generally to prescriptions; prohibiting anyone except a dispensing physician or a licensed pharmacy from acting as a pick-up or drop-off point or intermediary for filling or delivering prescriptions; limiting prescription transmissions to only the prescribing practitioner or the patient's relative or caretaker; and providing for a penalty.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §30-5-26, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. PHARMACISTS, PHARMACY TECHNICIANS, PHARMACY INTERNS
AND PHARMACIES.
§30-5-26. Limitations on filling or delivering prescriptions; limitations on transmitting prescription information; penalty.

No person, firm or business establishment, other than a dispensing physician or a pharmacy licensed by the West Virginia board of pharmacy, may serve as a pick-up station, drop-off point or intermediary for the purpose of having prescriptions filled or delivered. No person, firm or business establishment may transmit prescription information to a pharmacy on behalf of a patient except for the office or facility of the prescribing practitioner or the patient's relative or caretaker.
Any person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than two hundred fifty dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, or confined in the county or regional jail not to exceed six months, or both fined and imprisoned.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit anyone except a dispensing physician or a licensed pharmacy from acting as a pick-up or drop-off point or intermediary for filling or delivering prescriptions; to limit prescription transmissions to only the prescribing practitioner or the patient's relative or caretaker; and to provide for a penalty.

This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.