Sec. 17755.
(1) When a pharmacist receives a prescription for a brand name drug product, the pharmacist may, or when a purchaser requests a lower cost generically equivalent drug product, the pharmacist shall dispense a lower cost but not higher cost generically equivalent drug product if available in the pharmacy, except as provided in subsection (3). If a drug is dispensed which is not the prescribed brand, the purchaser shall be notified and the prescription label shall indicate both the name of the brand prescribed and the name of the brand dispensed and designate each respectively. If the dispensed drug does not have a brand name, the prescription label shall indicate the generic name of the drug dispensed, except as otherwise provided in section 17756.
(2) If a pharmacist dispenses a generically equivalent drug product, the pharmacist shall pass on the savings in cost to the purchaser or to the third party payment source if the prescription purchase is covered by a third party pay contract. The savings in cost is the difference between the wholesale cost to the pharmacist of the 2 drug products.
(3) The pharmacist shall not dispense a generically equivalent drug product under subsection (1) if any of the following applies:
(a) The prescriber, in the case of a prescription in writing signed by the prescriber, writes in his or her own handwriting “dispense as written” or “d.a.w.” on the prescription.
(b) The prescriber, having preprinted on his or her prescription blanks the statement “another brand of a generically equivalent product, identical in dosage, form, and content of active ingredients, may be dispensed unless initialed d.a.w.”, writes in his or her own handwriting, the initials “d.a.w.” in a space, box, or square adjacent to the statement.
(c) The prescriber, in the case of a prescription other than one in writing signed by the prescriber, expressly indicates the prescription is to be dispensed as communicated.
(4) A pharmacist may not dispense a drug product with a total charge that exceeds the total charge of the drug product originally prescribed, unless agreed to by the purchaser.
History: 1978, Act 368, Eff. Sept. 30, 1978
Popular Name: Act 368
Last modified: October 10, 2016