During connectivity loss, which practice is required for remote telepharmacy operations?

During connectivity loss, which practice is required for remote telepharmacy operations?

• A. No new prescriptions may be dispensed, processed or filled during connectivity loss; final checked refills may be dispensed
• B. Connectivity loss has no effect on dispensing
• C. No new prescriptions may be dispensed, processed or filled during connectivity loss; final checked refills may be dispensed
• D. New prescriptions may be dispensed during connectivity loss

Answer: (C)

When a remote telepharmacy connection is lost, you can’t complete the final verification step that a licensed pharmacist must perform before dispensing a new prescription. To protect patient safety, dispensing is limited to refills that have already been final checked prior to the outage. That means no new prescriptions can be dispensed, processed, or filled during the connectivity loss, but final checked refills may still be dispensed. This is why the correct approach is to allow only those refills that have already undergone the final pharmacist check to be dispensed, while delaying any new prescriptions until connectivity is restored. The other options imply dispensing without the necessary verification or ignoring the impact of the outage, which isn’t consistent with telepharmacy safety requirements.

When a remote telepharmacy connection is lost, you can’t complete the final verification step that a licensed pharmacist must perform before dispensing a new prescription. To protect patient safety, dispensing is limited to refills that have already been final checked prior to the outage. That means no new prescriptions can be dispensed, processed, or filled during the connectivity loss, but final checked refills may still be dispensed.

This is why the correct approach is to allow only those refills that have already undergone the final pharmacist check to be dispensed, while delaying any new prescriptions until connectivity is restored. The other options imply dispensing without the necessary verification or ignoring the impact of the outage, which isn’t consistent with telepharmacy safety requirements.