The State of Idaho recently sent out a letter to drug distributors, reminding companies of the law that went into effect on April 11, 2019, that requires companies to update the Idaho State Board of Pharmacy on a monthly basis of any prescription drugs shipped to healthcare providers in the state.
The initial letter from the state of Idaho created quite a stir in the pharmaceutical industry as the letter did not clarify if the regulation applied to all drugs or only controlled substances. This week the Idaho Board of Pharmacy updated the FAQ to clarify that these reports only apply to controlled substances.
The report must be emailed monthly, in Excel format, to the Idaho State Board of Pharmacy at pmp@bop.idaho.gov, and should be emailed no later than the 10th of each month following distribution.
The Excel spreadsheet should have the following fields:
- Date of shipment
- Professional license number
- Practitioner last name
- Practitioner first name
- Ship to address
- DEA number
- Drug name
- Drug strength
- Drug form
- Package size
- Total quantity
The required report should include information on any controlled substance samples shipped or delivered to offices addresses in Idaho but does not need to include any prescription medications sold to pharmacies or wholesalers. Manufacturers that do not ship to practitioners and only ship to wholesalers and/or pharmacies should send an email to pmp@bop.idaho.gov with the name of the facility and license number, indicating no shipments have been made to practitioners.
It is important to note that these monthly reports are in addition to an immediate report to the Board (on the same day as reported to the DEA) a theft or loss of a controlled substance, including all relevant information required by law.
Analysis
The original order specifically called for samples “shipped” to “healthcare providers” in the original letter one could assume that this rule only applies to samples that are not delivered personally by a rep to a healthcare provider.
The new FAQ, however, outlines that the reporting requirement includes reporting of samples that are hand-delivered by SalesProfessionals? If they are controlled substances, yes.