In a letter dated December 20, the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians and several other physician associations jointly submitted comments to State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy (SOBP) Director Steven Schierholt about prescriptive record keeping regulations that are already covered by the State Medical Board of Ohio’s (SMBO) regulations and are therefore duplicative, overreaching, and confusing.
The letter opposes the SOBP mandating that physicians enter into agreements with third party, off-site record storage databases or physical record storage locations. There are already strict requirements about the use of off-site storage facilities or databases and mandating that a physician force an off-site storage location to sign a contract that allows an SOBP inspector access to records within a three-day period is excessive and unnecessary.
The letter goes on to say, as the SOBP continues to seek more and more authority over physician offices, this calls into question whether there is a lack of communication and coordination of investigatory efforts between the SMBO and the SOBP. The SMBO has clear jurisdiction to investigate cases of drug diversion or drug misuse originating from a physician’s office so additional SOBP rules that are duplicative of the SMBO’s rules and jurisdiction are unnecessary.
Finally, the letter points out the need for a designated physician seat on the SOBP. If the SOBP continues to be more involved with the regulation of a physician’s office, it would be logical to have a physician’s voice on its board.