SECTION 535:15-4-5. Responsibilities and duties of RMOP pharmacies and pharmacy manager [pharmacist in charge (PIC's)]

  Responsibilities of the PIC and the remote medication order processing pharmacy include:

(1)   Written policies and procedures and operation manuals. The remote medication order processing pharmacy and PIC shall establish a written policy and procedure manual for the RMOP operation, including but not limited to:

(A)   Complying with federal and state laws and regulations;

(B)   Establish and maintain minimum technical standards and specifications, e.g. RMOP processes, passwords, encryption and firewalls;

(C)   Establish and maintain procedures for handling computer system or connectivity downtime;

(D)   Establish and maintain confidentiality, privacy, and security to meet HIPAA standards;

(E)   Establish and maintain pharmacist training, orientation and competencies;

(F)   Establish and maintain workload balancing and staffing levels e.g. when will RMOP be triggered and how will workload or staff balancing be done;

(G)   Establish and maintain access to appropriate drug information resources;

(H)   Establish and maintain hospital staff training and orientation to the remote medication order process;

(I)   Establish and maintain a process that documents issues or problems which includes issue escalation and problem resolution to resolve such;

(J)   Establish and maintain on-call assistance and communication between the hospital and remote site personnel;

(K)   Establish and maintain internal quality assurance and medication error reporting systems;

(L)   Clarification of medication orders;

(M)   Establish and maintain access to either hard-copy or online references as described in 535:15-5-9 (1) (B) and 535:15-5-9 (1) (C).

(N)   Establish and maintain access to Hospital policy resources, policies and procedures;

(O)   Establish and maintain records and reports;

(P)   Establish and maintain annual review of the remote medication order processing and documentation.

(2)   General responsibility. The remote medication order processing pharmacy and PIC shall be responsible for the provision of services to the hospital(s), including but not limited to establishing and maintaining:

(A)   Establishing and scheduling appropriate RMOP pharmacy staffing levels;

(B)   Performance of RMOP duties which include establishing and maintaining:

(i)   Review of the patient's profile;

(ii)   Clarification of medication orders;

(iii)   Reporting of potential drug interactions or allergies;

(iv)   Order entry and/or order review;

(v)   Monitoring of clinical information, lab values, or dosing issues;

(vi)   Provision of drug information to the pharmacist(s) performing remote medication order entry, by establishing and maintaining access to either hard-copy or online references as described in 535:15-5-9(1)(B) and 535:15-5-9(1)(C).

(C)   Submitting required reports, required by hospital, by procedures manual and by law or rule;

(D)   Quality assurance and performance improvement of the RMOP service;

(3)   Confidentiality. The remote medication order processing pharmacy and PIC shall have responsibility for establishing policies and procedures for the security and integrity of any patient information, confidential and non-confidential and must abide by all applicable state and federal laws and rules. In addition, the following must be met:

(A)   Pharmacists performing remote medication order processing entry must adhere to the hospital's confidentiality policy and are responsible for ensuring the confidentiality of patient information as described in 535:10-3-1.1 (6) and 535:10-3-1.2 (a) (16); and,

(B)   The hospital shall insure that the remote pharmacist shall have individual pharmacist-specific secure electronic access to the hospital pharmacy's patient information system and to other electronic systems that the on-site pharmacist has access to when the hospital pharmacy is open.

(4)   Record keeping.

(A)   The remote medication order processing pharmacy shall ensure that records of any and all orders processed for the hospital are maintained for a minimum of two (2) years, and such records shall be readily available for inspection, copying by, or production of upon request by the Board, its designee, or a representative of the Board upon request, including, but not limited to:

(i)   Medication orders reviewed or verified by the remote pharmacist;

(ii)   Interventions communicated by the remote pharmacist;

(iii)   Requests for clinical or other additional information communicated by the remote pharmacist;

(iv)   Name or other unique identifier of the remote pharmacist involved in the processing of the RMOP order.

(B)   The records required in Section 535:15-4-5 (4) (A) above may be kept at either the remote medication order processing pharmacy or the hospital so long as the records are maintained and readily available.

(C)   A hospital utilizing a remote pharmacist shall maintain a record of the name and address of such pharmacist(s), evidence of current pharmacist licensure in Oklahoma, and the address of each location where records of any and all orders processed for the hospital will be maintained.

[Source: Added at 27 Ok Reg 2256, eff 7-11-10; Amended at 32 Ok Reg 1229, eff 8-27-15]