Records required to be kept — requirements

1. Every permit holder of a licensed pharmacy shall cause to be kept in a uniform fashion consistent with this section a suitable book, file, or electronic record-keeping system in which shall be preserved, for a period of not less than five years, the original or order of each drug or biological product which has been compounded or dispensed at such pharmacy, according to and in compliance with standards provided by the board, and shall produce the same in court or before any grand jury whenever lawfully required. A licensed pharmacy may maintain its prescription file on readable microfilm for records maintained over three years. After September, 1999, a licensed pharmacy may preserve prescription files on microfilm or by electronic media storage for records maintained over three years. The pharmacist in charge shall be responsible for complying with the permit holder's record-keeping system in compliance with this section. Records maintained by a pharmacy that contain medical or drug information on patients or their care shall be considered as confidential and shall only be released according to standards provided by the board. Upon request, the pharmacist in charge of such pharmacy shall furnish to the prescriber, and may furnish to the person for whom such prescription was compounded or dispensed, a true and correct copy of the original prescription. The file of original prescriptions kept in any format in compliance with this section, and other confidential records, as defined by law, shall at all times be open for inspection by board of pharmacy representatives. Records maintained in an electronic record-keeping system shall contain all information otherwise required in a manual record-keeping system. Electronic records shall be readily retrievable. Pharmacies may electronically maintain the original prescription or prescription order for each drug or biological product and may electronically annotate any change or alteration to a prescription record in the electronic record-keeping system as authorized by law; provided however, original written and faxed prescriptions shall be physically maintained on file at the pharmacy under state and federal controlled substance laws. 2. An institutional pharmacy located in a hospital shall be responsible for maintaining records of the transactions of the pharmacy as required by federal and state laws and as necessary to maintain adequate control and accountability of all drugs. This shall include a system of controls and records for the requisitioning and dispensing of pharmaceutical supplies where applicable to patients, nursing care units and to other departments or services of the institution. Inspection performed pursuant to this subsection shall be consistent with the provisions of section 197.100. 3. "Electronic record-keeping system", as used in this section, shall mean a system, including machines, methods of organization, and procedures, that provides input, storage, processing, communications, output, and control functions for digitized images of original prescriptions.