Policy: Interested Parties Meeting

On Thursday, March 21, 2024, the WMC will hold a Policy: Interested Parties meeting beginning at 10 am. The meeting will be held virtually via Teams. Register to attend this meeting here:?WMC Policy: Interested Parties

The purpose of this meeting is to allow anyone to comment on and suggest changes to the WMC?s policies, guidance documents, procedures, and interpretive statements. The WMC encourages open discussion on the items on the agenda. Please submit your comments to?[email protected]?by March 20, 2024, at 5 pm. The agenda, as well as the draft documents to be discussed, can be found on our Policy Meetings page.

Electronic Prescriptions and Cyberattacks

Pharmacies nationwide, including some CVS stores, are facing ongoing delays filling prescriptions following a February 21, 2024 cyber-attack on a healthcare software provider. The provider systems are down for the seventh straight day after the cyber attack as of 10 a.m. February 27, 2024. The breach affected military clinics and hospitals worldwide. Doctors are likely to see an increased number of calls, upset patients, and delays. At this time, practitioners do have alternatives.

While?RCW 69.50.312?requires that prescriptions for controlled substances be electronically communicated to a pharmacy, there is an exception to this requirement ?when the electronic system used for the communication of prescription information is unavailable due to a temporary technological or electronic failure.? This would be a qualifying time under this section of law.

Practitioners should remember that paper prescriptions must be on tamper resistant prescription pads. In addition, the law states that a pharmacist who receives a written, oral, or faxed prescription is not required to verify that the prescription properly meets any exemptions under this section. Pharmacists may continue to dispense and deliver medications from otherwise valid written, oral, or faxed prescriptions.