Is a phone number required?

[alwaystired]

Ok. I had a strange woman today who wanted to fill her prescription and did not want to give me her phone number no matter what. Is this required? I am looking in Nevada law, but what about federal law, does anyone know off the top of their head? Or has anyone dealt with this before, what did you do?

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[alwaystired]

Ok. I had a strange woman today who wanted to fill her prescription and did not want to give me her phone number no matter what. Is this required? I am looking in Nevada law, but what about federal law, does anyone know off the top of their head? Or has anyone dealt with this before, what did you do?

I think I found my answer for federal, which said name and address and nothing about phone number.

 

[Old Timer]

In Pennsylvania it is not required. Just inform the patient you need the phone number to contact them if there is a problem with an order or if there is a drug recall. Inform them your company will not share this information with anyone.

If they still refuse, accept it gracefully....

 

[Priapism321]

Ok. I had a strange woman today who wanted to fill her prescription and did not want to give me her phone number no matter what. Is this required? I am looking in Nevada law, but what about federal law, does anyone know off the top of their head? Or has anyone dealt with this before, what did you do?

Are you working at a Sav-On? That is just the parameter they choose to use in order to identify patients, not sure it has anything to do with the law, as you have already found.

 

[Tuck]

I don't think there is any requirement for either phone number or address since there are patients that have neither but do have medicaid or medicare. They are typically few and far between and those patients usually go on account at a hospital somewhere, but not always.

 

[bananaface]

If it's a controlled medication you have to have a physical address.

 

[alwaystired]

I found a line in the federal law (snooze) about name and address being needed, nothing about phone number.

The only reason I thought a phone number would be necessary is if there were a major recall or something, but no, I didn't find any phone number requirement.


An address or phone number can be made up anyways- how am I going to know? But I'd never come across someone that didn't want to give me their phone number, and I've never worked in an indigent area, where someone may not have a phone number, or at least would admit they didn't have one.

 

[bananaface]

There are homeless people all over. Often, they give you the address of the Mission or the Salvation Army, so you don't know about it.

 

[Farmercyst]

USA Today column in the business section yesterday about a guy who gave an address, pharmacist went there to check up on pt and he was living on the street. Had his insulin in a refrigerator, with no door, baking in the sun. Oddly enough he couldn't keep his sugar in check.

 

[sdn1977]

Goodness!

If the rx is otherwise legal, use whatever address & phone number they give you. Who cares if its real or not - its more often not real.

It doesn't really make any difference. This is one of those minutiae laws of pharmacy. We obsess over the littlest details but miss the important things about counseling about addictions, recovery, alternatives......all those things which could make a real difference.

I can appreciate their concern about a "no call" list. Who knows what these corporations will do with info? There are ways to get addresses from phone numbers & vice versa. For someone who doesn't want to lie - its a dilemma. For those who are willing to give out a false #.....just take it. It populates a computer field your techies want populated.

 

[no-see-um]

Some folks are homeless, some folks have no phones (or addresses), yet they're still patients and need their Rxs filled like any other patient. I totally agree with SDN1977. The law wasn't designed to be 'red tape' between helping a patient and not. It's supposed to facilitate good patient care and guide you in the proper direction as a practitioner. When you make your decisions, make them in the best interest of the patient. If the patient had a MRSA infection and was filling a Zyvox prescription and didn't wish to give his address or phone number, or gave a wrong one (and may even be homeless)- do you not fill it for him? I would not send the patient away on a petty technicality.

 

[alwaystired]

Some folks are homeless, some folks have no phones (or addresses), yet they're still patients and need their Rxs filled like any other patient. I totally agree with SDN1977. The law wasn't designed to be 'red tape' between helping a patient and not. It's supposed to facilitate good patient care and guide you in the proper direction as a practitioner. When you make your decisions, make them in the best interest of the patient. If the patient had a MRSA infection and was filling a Zyvox prescription and didn't wish to give his address or phone number, or gave a wrong one (and may even be homeless)- do you not fill it for him? I would not send the patient away on a petty technicality.

a petty technicality until there's a serious drug recall.