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Rhode Island ODs achieve oral prescribing rights
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A new law that gives oral medication privileges to Rhode Island optometrists takes the mandate one step further by requiring electronic prescribing as well. State leaders there lauded the actions.
“We will be able to prescribe the majority of the oral medications our patients would need as opposed to inconveniencing them by sending them to yet another provider and requiring another office visit just to have that prescription written,” Stephen M. Montaquila, OD, president of the Rhode Island Optometric Association (RIOA), told Primary Care Optometry News in an interview. “Within 3 years of implementation of the law, we will also have to have the bulk of our prescriptions delivered electronically to pharmacies. Research shows that it reduces errors in transcription and reduces the risk of the wrong drug being prescribed at the pharmacy level.”
Dr. Montaquila said the state’s department of health was planning to update the statute, presenting an opportunity for the ODs in Rhode Island to modernize their practice act by including oral prescribing privileges, as well as the electronic prescribing factor.
“We thought it was an important patient care and safety measure,” he said. “We welcomed the opportunity for optometrists to take the lead in this important developing technology in medicine.”
S-2889 became law without Gov. Donald L. Carcieri’s signature, a move that RIOA Executive Director Tim Bonin said was fairly common. The governor did not oppose the statute, Mr. Bonin said.
The law authorizes optometrists to prescribe all oral drugs except for Schedule I and Schedule II narcotics. A 72-hour quantity limit will be put on all Schedule III narcotics, he said.
Mr. Bonin said that the association leadership, including Dr. Montaquila, played an integral role. “He was the right leader at the right time to move it forward,” he said.
Florida, Massachusetts and New York are the three remaining states without oral prescribing privileges.
For more information:
- The Rhode Island Optometric Association can be reached at P.O. Box 438, Greenville, RI 02828; www.rioa.org.