Prescribing Requirements

A.R.S 32-3248.02.Health professionals; substance use or addiction continuing education

A health professional who is authorized under this title to prescribe schedule II controlled substances and who has a valid United States drug enforcement administration registration number or who is authorized under chapter 18 of this title to dispense controlled substances shall complete a minimum of three hours of opioid-related, substance use disorder-related or addiction-related continuing education each license renewal cycle. The three hours of continuing medical education or accredited continuing education that is approved by the applicable health profession regulatory board shall be included as part of any continuing education requirements for that health professional.

The Arizona State Board of Pharmacy asked the Board of Nursing to remind Arizona prescribers to follow prescribing laws when generating a prescription. Specifically, when e-prescribing, prescribers must remember to apply the order to paper that includes security features as described below.

A.R.S. 32-1968 Dispensing prescription‑only drug; prescription orders; refills; labels; misbranding; dispensing soft contact lenses states:

Dispensing prescription-only drug; prescription orders; refills; labels; misbranding; dispensing soft contact lenses

  1. A prescription-only drug shall be dispensed only under one of the following conditions:
    1. By a medical practitioner in conformance with section 32-1921.
    2. On a written prescription order bearing the prescribing medical practitioner's manual signature.
    3. On an electronically transmitted prescription order containing the prescribing medical practitioner's electronic or digital signature that is reduced promptly to writing and filed by the pharmacist.
    4. On a written prescription order generated from electronic media containing the prescribing medical practitioner's electronic or manual signature. A prescription order that contains only an electronic signature must be applied to paper that uses security features that will ensure the prescription order is not subject to any form of copying or alteration
  2. Additional information for Nurse Practitioners and Physicians Assistants Prescribing Buprenorphine-Lin