HB 143 - AS INTRODUCED
2021 SESSION
21-0105
10/05
HOUSE BILL 143
AN ACT relative to an electronic prescription drug program.
SPONSORS: Rep. Merchant, Sull. 4
COMMITTEE: Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs
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ANALYSIS
This bill requires electronic prescribing for controlled drugs under certain circumstances.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
 HB 143 - AS INTRODUCED
21-0105
10/05
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty One
AN ACT relative to an electronic prescription drug program.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 1 Pharmacists and Pharmacies; Prescriptions. Amend RSA 318:47-c, I(b) to read as follows:
2 (b) A patient shall be entitled to receive a paper prescription instead of an oral or
3 electronically transmitted prescription, except prescriptions for controlled drugs as defined in
4 RSA 318-B:1, VI.
5 2 New Paragraph; Pharmacists and Pharmacies; Prescriptions. Amend RSA 318:47-c by
6 inserting after paragraph II the following new paragraph:
7 III.(a) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, no person shall issue a
8 prescription for a controlled drug unless the prescription is made by electronic prescription from the
9 person issuing the prescription to a pharmacy and the electronic prescription contains the
10 information and signature required in paragraph II, except for prescriptions issued:
11 (1) In circumstances where electronic prescribing is not available due to temporary
12 technological or electrical failure.
13 (2) By a practitioner to be dispensed by a pharmacy located outside of New
14 Hampshire, provided that such pharmacy complies with the laws and regulations of the state where
15 the pharmacy is located.
16 (3) When the prescriber is the dispenser.
17 (4) By a practitioner for a drug that the federal Food and Drug Administration
18 (FDA) requires the prescription to contain certain elements that are not able to be accomplished with
19 electronic prescribing.
20 (5) By practitioners who have received a waiver or a renewal thereof for a specified
21 period determined by the board, not to exceed one year, from the requirement to use electronic
22 prescribing, pursuant to a process established in rules of the board, due to economic hardship,
23 technological limitations that are not reasonably within the control of the practitioner, or other
24 exceptional circumstance demonstrated by the practitioner.
25 (6) In circumstances where electronic prescribing is not available due to RSA 318-
26 B:2, VI-a.
27 (b) A pharmacist who receives a written, oral, or faxed prescription shall not be required
28 to verify that the prescription properly falls under one of the exceptions under subparagraph (a).
29 Pharmacists may continue to dispense medications from otherwise valid written, oral, or faxed
30 prescriptions that are consistent with this section.
31 3 New Paragraph; Controlled Drug Act; Acts Prohibited. Amend RSA 318-B:2 by inserting after
 HB 143 - AS INTRODUCED
- Page 2 -
1 paragraph VI the following new paragraph:
2 VI-a. No person or entity shall issue clinical decision support alerts or similar notices,
3 warnings, or announcements by means of electronic health record software or similar electronic
4 means designed to increase prescriptions for scheduled drug products, in violation of the Anti-
5 Kickback Statute 42 U.S.C. section 1320a-7b(b), or with the intent to defraud the United States
6 pursuant to 18 U.S.C. section 371.
7 4 New Paragraph; Consumer Protection; Acts Unlawful. Amend RSA 358-A:2 by inserting after
8 paragraph XVII the following new paragraph:
9 XVIII. Issuing clinical decision support alerts or similar notices, warnings, or
10 announcements by means of electronic health record software or similar electronic means designed
11 to increase prescriptions for scheduled drug products, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute 42
12 U.S.C. section 1320a-7b(b), or with the intent to defraud the United States pursuant to 18 U.S.C.
13 section 371.
14 5 New Subparagraph; Controlled Drug Prescription Health and Safety Program; Dispenser
15 Report. Amend RSA 318-B:33, IV by inserting after subparagraph (o) the following new
16 subparagraph:
17 (p) The format of the prescription: electronic, faxed, written, oral, or other.
18 6 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2022.


Statutes affected:
Introduced: 318:47-c, 318-B:2, 358-A:2, 318-B:33
latest version: 318:47-c, 318-B:2, 358-A:2, 318-B:33, 330-A:12, 330-A:23