Mississippi Administrative Code
Title 30 - Professions and Occupations
Part 3001 - MISSISSIPPI PHARMACY PRACTICE REGULATIONS
Article XII - PRESCRIPTION/ORDER REQUIRED AND REFILL AUTHORIZATION/RECORDKEEPING

1. Prescription drugs shall be dispensed only pursuant to a valid prescription or a valid order. A pharmacist shall not dispense a prescription which the pharmacist knows or should know is not a valid prescription. A Prescription Drug Order, to be effective, must be issued for a legitimate medical purpose by a Practitioner acting within the course of legitimate professional practice.

A Prescription Drug Order shall contain the following information at a minimum:

2. A Prescription Drug Order must be communicated directly to a Pharmacist, or when recorded, in such a way that the Pharmacist may review the Prescription Drug Order as transmitted. A prescription/order may be accepted by a pharmacist in written form, orally, or electronically unless the order is for a Schedule II controlled substance (refer to ARTICLE XIX) of these regulations. Electronically transmitted prescription drug orders shall meet the following requirements:

3. Pharmacists must maintain complete and accurate records of all prescription drugs received, disposed of, or dispensed at a permitted facility.

4. A prescription may not be refilled without authorization. When refills are dispensed pursuant to authorization contained on the original prescription or when no refills are authorized on the original prescription but refills are subsequently authorized by the prescriber, the refill authorization shall be recorded on the original prescription document and the record of any refill made shall be maintained on the back of the original prescription document or on some other uniformly maintained record and the dispensing pharmacist shall record the date of the refill, the quantity of the drug dispensed and his/her initials; however, an original prescription for a controlled substance which contains no refill information may not be authorized to be refilled more than five (5) times or after six (6) months from the date of issuance. Authorization for any additional refill of a controlled substance prescription in excess of those refills originally authorized or after six (6) months from the date of issuance of the prescription shall be treated as a new prescription.

5. When filling a prescription or refilling a prescription which may be refilled, the pharmacist shall exercise professional judgment in the matter. Except as provided below, no prescription shall be filled or refilled with greater frequency than the approximate interval of time that the dosage regimen ordered by the prescriber would indicate, unless extenuating circumstances are documented which would justify a shorter interval of time before the filling or refilling of the prescription. For non-controlled maintenance medications only, a pharmacist, exercising his/her professional judgment, may dispense additional dosage units authorized by the prescriber on the original prescription including refills.

6. The pharmacist who fills or refills a prescription shall record the date of the dispensing and indicate his/her identity as the dispensing pharmacist on the prescription document or some other appropriate and uniformly maintained record. If this record is maintained on the original prescription document, the original dispensing and any refills must be recorded on the back of the prescription.

7. A prescription shall not be refilled after twelve (12) months from the date of issuance. Orders for non-controlled medications authorized for patients in LTC facilities are recognized as prescriptions and are valid until the order is discontinued.

8. A prescription becomes invalid thirty (30) days after the prescriber/patient relationship is terminated. When the patient is no longer able to seek personal consultation or treatment from the prescriber the prescriber/patient relationship is terminated.

9. A written prescription document prepared by the prescriber or his agent must bear an original signature of the prescriber, facsimile stamps are not acceptable. When an oral prescription or the oral authorization for the refilling of a prescription is received which is transmitted by someone other than the prescriber, the name of the transmitter and the date of the transmission must be recorded on the original prescription document by the pharmacist receiving the transmission.

10. A pharmacist licensed by the Mississippi Board of Pharmacy may dispense a one-time emergency dispensing of a prescription of up to a seventy-two (72) hour supply of a prescribed medication in the event the pharmacist is unable to contact the prescriber to obtain refill authorization, provided that;