What Is the Law for Hawaiian Pharmacy Medication Counseling?

Your pharmacist can counsel you about possible drug interactions and side effects.

Multiple prescription medications with various instructions and risks can be confusing for patients. Hawaii has several statutes regulating information that a pharmacist must provide to enable patients to make informed decisions regarding their health care.

Generics

Generic drugs can save patients money.

Pharmacists must inform a patient when there is a generic form of a prescribed drug. The patient must be informed that she may decline to use the generic and, if she asks, must be told what the cost savings will be if the generic form is used. Exceptions to this rule include when the prescribing physician states that the brand is medically necessary and when the drug is an anti-epileptic, in which case the pharmacist must have the consent of the patient and the prescribing physician before making a substitution.

Transferred Prescriptions

When a prescription is transferred from an out-of-state pharmacy, the Hawaiian pharmacist must advise the patient that the original prescription on file with the out-of-state pharmacy may be canceled.

Remote Dispensing Pharmacies

The pharmacy technician must offer patients counseling from the pharmacist.

In Hawaii, if there is no pharmacy within 5 miles, drugs may be dispensed by a remote dispensing pharmacy under the direct supervision of a pharmacist at the pharmacy responsible for the remote dispensing facility. When a patient fills a prescription at a remote dispensing pharmacy, the technician must give the patient the option of receiving counseling from the licensed pharmacist at the pharmacy responsible for the prescriptions. Counseling is generally done through video and audio equipment that allows the customer to interact with the pharmacist at the responsible pharmacy.

Emergency Contraception

When dispensing emergency contraception, the pharmacist and patient must go through and sign a screening checklist, and the patient must sign an informed consent form.

References

• Haw. Rev. Stat. §328-92 Drug Product Selection
• Haw. Rev. Stat. §328-17.6 Out-of-State Prescriptions
• Haw. Rev. Stat. §461-10.5 Remote Dispensing Pharmacy
• Haw. Code R. § 16-95-130(c)8-9 Emergency Contraceptives