2012 Arkansas Code
Title 17 - Professions, Occupations, and Businesses
Subtitle 3 - Medical Professions
Chapter 92 - Pharmacists and Pharmacies
Subchapter 10 - -- Arkansas Internet Prescription Consumer Protection Act
§ 17-92-1003 - Definitions.

As used in this subchapter:

(1) "Deliver" means the actual, constructive, or attempted transfer from one (1) person to another of any drug whether or not an agency relationship exists;

(2) "Dispense" means to deliver prescription medication to the ultimate user or research subject pursuant to the lawful order of a practitioner or pursuant to the prescription of a mid-level practitioner;

(3) "Distribute" means to deliver, other than by administering or dispensing, any drug;

(4) "Electronic mail" means any message transmitted through the international network of interconnected government, educational, and commercial computer networks, including, but not limited to, messages transmitted from or to any address affiliated with an Internet site;

(5) "Foreign entity" means any corporation, limited liability company, or other body corporate organized under the law of any jurisdiction other than the State of Arkansas;

(6) "Internet broker" means an entity that serves as an agent or intermediary or other capacity that causes the Internet to be used to bring together a buyer and seller to engage in the dispensing of prescription-only drugs;

(7) "Internet site" means a specific location on the international network of interconnected government, educational, and commercial computer networks that is determined by Internet protocol numbers, by a domain name, or by both, including, but not limited to, domain names that use the designations ".com", ".edu", ".gov", ".org", and ".net";

(8) "Person" means any individual, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, limited partnership, association, joint venture, or any other legal or commercial entity, whether foreign or domestic;

(9) "Pharmacist" means any natural person licensed under this subchapter to practice pharmacy;

(10) "Pharmacy", "drug store", or "apothecary" means premises, laboratory, area, or other place:

(A) Where drugs are offered for sale, where the profession of pharmacy is practiced, and where prescriptions are compounded and dispensed;

(B) Which has displayed upon it or within it the words "pharmacist", "pharmaceutical chemist", "pharmacy", "apothecary", "drugstore", "druggist", "drugs", "drug sundries", or any of these words or combination of these words; or

(C) Where the characteristic symbols of pharmacy or the characteristic prescription sign "Rx" may be exhibited;

(11) "Practitioner" means:

(A) A person licensed to practice medicine and surgery, dentistry, podiatry, veterinary medicine, or optometry licensed under the optometry law as a therapeutic licensee or diagnostic and therapeutic licensee; or

(B) A scientific investigator or other person authorized by law to use a prescription-only drug in teaching or chemical analysis or to conduct research with respect to a prescription-only drug;

(12) "Premises" means the portion of any building or structure leased, used, or controlled by the licensee in the conduct of the business registered by the Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy at the address for which the registration was issued;

(13) (A) "Prescription-only drug" means any drug, whether intended for use by man or animal, required by federal or state law to be dispensed only pursuant to a written or oral prescription or order of a practitioner or that is restricted to use by practitioners only.

(B) "Prescription-only drug" does not mean contact lenses;

(14) (A) "Prescription order" means:

(i) An order to be filled by a pharmacist for prescription medication issued and signed by a practitioner or a mid-level practitioner in the authorized course of professional practice; or

(ii) An order transmitted to a pharmacist through word of mouth, note, telephone, or other means of communication directed by the practitioner or mid-level practitioner.

(B) In the absence of a prior and proper patient-practitioner relationship, "prescription order" does not include an order for a prescription-only drug issued solely in response to:

(i) An Internet questionnaire;

(ii) An Internet consultation; or

(iii) A telephonic consultation; and

(15) "Proper practitioner-patient relationship" means that before the issuance of a prescription, a practitioner, physician, or other prescribing health professional performs a history and in-person physical examination of the patient adequate to establish a diagnosis and to identify underlying conditions or contraindications to the treatment recommended or provided unless:

(A) The prescribing practitioner is consulting at the specific request of another practitioner who:

(i) Maintains an ongoing relationship with the patient;

(ii) Has performed an in-person physical examination of the patient; and

(iii) Has agreed to supervise the patient's ongoing care and use of prescribed medications; or

(B) The prescribing practitioner interacts with the patient through an on-call or cross-coverage situation.