When Alex Azar, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (“DHHS”), declared a national emergency on January 31, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he triggered an exception to the “in-person medical evaluation” requirement for online prescribing as set forth in the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008 (the “Haight Act”). In short, the Haight Act prohibits physicians and other prescribers from issuing a valid prescription for a controlled substance by means of the internet (which includes telehealth technologies) without having first conducted at least one in-person medical evaluation, except in certain specified circumstances. A public health emergency is one such exception to the in-person medical examination requirement.
Continue Reading Telehealth and Online Prescribing: COVID-19 Triggers Changes to the Prescriber/Patient/Pharmacist Relationship
online prescribing
More Telemedicine Food for Thought: Exception Five to the Haight Act’s In-Person Examination Requirement
In our July 10, 2017 post regarding telemedicine prescribing, we wrote about the seven exceptions to the Haight Act’s requirement that a provider and patient have an-person visit before a prescriber/practitioner can prescribe a controlled substance for his/her patient. As we concluded in the post, the current exceptions are so narrowly focused that they are of limited utility to telemedicine providers and practitioners.
Continue Reading More Telemedicine Food for Thought: Exception Five to the Haight Act’s In-Person Examination Requirement
Giving Telemedicine More Room to Breathe: Recent and Pending State and Federal Actions in the World of Online Prescribing
On October 18, 2008, the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008 (the “Haight Act”) came into law as the federal government’s first attempt to address the public health risks associated with online pharmacies – such risks including the dispensing of drugs (including addictive drugs to be used recreationally) without a valid prescription, and the dispensing of adulterated drugs, counterfeit drugs, and/or expired drugs, all of which could result in significant harm to individuals who may have been looking for an easy way to obtain prescribed medications at a lower price.
Continue Reading Giving Telemedicine More Room to Breathe: Recent and Pending State and Federal Actions in the World of Online Prescribing