AB 290

This bill permits a pharmacist to prescribe and administer injectable hormonal

contraceptives and prescribe and dispense self-administered hormonal

contraceptives, subject to limitations described as follows.

The bill requires the Pharmacy Examining Board, after consultation with the

Medical Examining Board, the Board of Nursing, and the Department of Health

Services, and in consideration of guidelines established by the American College of

Obstetricians and Gynecologists, to promulgate rules to establish standard

procedures for the prescribing of contraceptives by pharmacists under the bill. The

rules must include certain requirements for pharmacists prescribing, dispensing,

and administering contraceptives, such as requiring a pharmacist to complete a

training course, requiring a referral to a health care provider following a

prescription, and requiring the contraceptive to be administered or dispensed as

soon as practicable after the pharmacist issues the prescription order. In addition,

the rules must prohibit a pharmacist from requiring a patient to schedule an

appointment with the pharmacist for the prescribing, administering, or dispensing

of a contraceptive and from prescribing, administering, and dispensing a

contraceptive to a patient who does not have evidence of a clinical visit for women's

health within the three years immediately following the initial prescription of a

contraceptive by a pharmacist to the patient. A pharmacist who prescribes,

administers, or dispenses contraceptives as permitted under the bill must comply

with those rules, as well as other rules promulgated by the Pharmacy Examining

Board.