Do you know how long a prescription and voucher for a medical device is valid for?

According to Act No. 378/2007 Coll., on medicinal products and amendments to some related laws, medicinal products are prescribed by medical prescription in electronic form. Issuance of a prescription in paper form is permissible in exceptional cases specified by decree.

• The patient has a free choice of pharmacy.

• Advertising is prohibited in connection with the electronic prescription.

• Veterinary medicinal products are prescribed by prescription in paper form.

According to Decree No. 54/2008 Coll., on the method of prescribing medicinal products, the information provided on the medical prescription and the rules for the use of medical prescriptions, the validity of the prescription depends on the type of medicinal product that is prescribed.

Prescription with prescribed

a) antibiotics and antimicrobial chemotherapeutic agents are valid for a maximum of 5 calendar days starting from the day of their exposure, unless they are medicinal products for local use.

• applies to all antibiotics or antimicrobial chemotherapy that are swallowed;

• the injectable drug form is reported to the health insurance company by a doctor on a specific document, a medical form is not used for its prescription;

• a prescription for antibiotics in local medicinal form (ointments, pastes, creams, gels) is valid for 14 calendar days starting from the day of exposure;

b ) other medicinal products are valid for 14 calendar days starting from the day of their issue, unless the doctor specifies otherwise, but no longer than 1 year;

• if the doctor would like to extend the validity of the prescription, he must indicate this on the prescription.

(2) A prescription with prescribed medicinal products, the dispensing of which is to be repeated, is valid for 6 months, unless the prescribing doctor stipulates otherwise, starting from the day it is issued, but no longer than 1 year.

• if the patient's health condition does not require a check-up visit to the doctor every 3 months, the doctor can issue a repeat prescription in the number of packages for 3 months and with the number of repeated dispenses corresponding to the treatment for a maximum of 1 year;

• the patient can pick up all packages at once or gradually during the validity of the prescription. Gradual collection is more rational with regard to the possibility of a change in health status and thus a change in the medicinal product;

• in case of gradual collection, the pharmacy returns the original paper form with the dispensing stamp to the patient and keeps the statement for billing to the health insurance company;

• in the case of an electronic prescription, the patient remains with an identifier (a 12-digit code that combines numbers and letters and is expressed as a barcode, usually on a paper form, but can also be in the form of an SMS or sent by e-mail).

(3) A prescription issued by a medical emergency service or a dental emergency service, or if the prescription states "Acute care" or "Urgent care", is valid no later than the end of the first calendar day following the day of its issuance; whereas a calendar day also means Saturday and Sunday, not just a working day.

Extract from the recipe

If the prescribed number of packages is not available in the pharmacy, or if 2 types of medicinal products are prescribed on the prescription, one of which is not available and cannot be quickly procured or the patient does not want to wait for the order, the pharmacist issues a prescription extract for the missing medicinal product labeled "Statement".

If it is an extract from a paper form, the extract contains the data of the original recipe. If it is an electronic prescription, then the "statement" loses its meaning, because the data on the dispensing are recorded in the central storage of the prescriptions and the patient is given an additional identifier.

The statement is valid for the same length of time as if the original prescription was valid with regard to the prescribed medicinal products.

If an extract were to be obtained from a prescription for which antibiotics for internal use were prescribed, it should be in the patient's interest to pick up the medicine as soon as possible, taking into account the timely initiation of treatment.

According to Act No. 268/2014 Coll., on medical devices and amending Act No. 634/2004 Coll., on administrative fees, as amended, vouchers can only be issued in paper form (not in electronic form).

• If a medical device is prescribed that is not covered or is only partially covered by the health insurance company, the doctor is obliged to inform the patient of this fact.

• A medical device can only be dispensed at a pharmacy, medical device dispensary, optometrist or contracted distributor.

• Advertising is prohibited in connection with the voucher.

A voucher with a prescribed medical device can be redeemed within 90 days from the day it is issued, unless the prescribing physician determines otherwise with regard to the patient's health condition or the nature of the medical device.

3/5/2018
M.Sc. Radka Brichcínová

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