2013 Vermont Statutes
Title 18 Health
Chapter 91 PRESCRIPTION DRUG COST CONTAINMENT
§ 4605 Alternative drug selection
4605. Alternative drug selection
(a) When a pharmacist receives a prescription for a drug which is listed either by generic name or brand name in the most recent edition of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' publication Approved Drug Products With Therapeutic Equivalence (the "Orange Book") of approved drug products, the pharmacist shall select the lowest priced drug from the list which is equivalent as defined by the "Orange Book," unless otherwise instructed by the prescriber, or by the purchaser if the purchaser agrees to pay any additional cost in excess of the benefits provided by the purchaser's health benefit plan if allowed under the legal requirements applicable to the plan, otherwise to pay the full cost for the higher priced drug.
(b) The purchaser shall be informed by the pharmacist or his or her representative that an alternative selection as provided under subsection (a) of this section will be made unless the purchaser agrees to pay any additional cost in excess of the benefits provided by the purchaser's health benefit plan if allowed under the legal requirements applicable to the plan, otherwise to pay the full cost for the higher priced drug.
(c) When refilling a prescription, pharmacists shall receive the consent of the prescriber to dispense a drug different from that originally dispensed, and shall inform the purchaser that a generic substitution shall be made unless the purchaser agrees to pay any additional cost in excess of the benefits provided by the purchaser's health benefit plan if allowed under the legal requirements applicable to the plan, otherwise to pay the full cost for the higher priced drug.
(d) Any pharmacist substituting a generically equivalent drug shall charge no more than the usual and customary retail price for that selected drug. This charge shall not exceed the usual and customary retail price for the prescribed brand. (Added 1977, No. 127 (Adj. Sess.), 1; amended 2001, No. 63, 124; 2005, No. 71, 306, eff. June 21, 2005; 2009, No. 35, 3.)
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