Pharmacy Tech Concerns With Disclosing Controlled Substance Inventory Over The Phone

Answer

Thanks so much for reaching out and asking such a great question.

There is no specific law that regulates whether or not a pharmacy can discuss its inventory with a potential patient. However, pharmacies and/or pharmacists may have individual policies in place, particularly when it comes to controlled substances.

These policies are usually set in place with the primary focuses being:

• The safety and protection of the pharmacy staff
• Preventing the potential diversion of controlled substances
• Ensuring that medications are only dispensed to patients with valid prescriptions with legitimate medical needs

It is understandable that you may have concerns about disclosing the availability of a controlled substance over the phone without first verifying a valid prescription. By saying that you have the drug in stock, regardless of whether or not you disclose the specific quantity you have on hand, you may be inadvertently inviting potential safety concerns.

Drug Shortages Exacerbate The Problem

Complicating matters, there have recently been some high-profile controlled substance drugs that have had widespread availability issues, such as Adderall and Adderall XR, so I imagine you may be getting calls from patients you haven't served in the past.

Receiving calls from unknown patients inquiring about the availability of controlled substances can certainly be a red flag, but you do have to consider the circumstances too.

Some calls could certainly be more concerning than others (e.g., someone calling about a specific quantity of a particular manufacturer of a controlled substance versus asking about the availability of a drug in general).

Pharmacist Thoughts On The Problem

Ultimately, no one is right or wrong here in a legal sense.

It is ultimately up to the pharmacy and pharmacist to decide on a policy regarding the disclosure of controlled substance inventory.

It may be more appropriate to continue the previous pharmacist's policy of saying that a prescription is needed before any information about the controlled substance inventory can be provided. This policy ensures that safety and security are the primary considerations. However, it is important to take into consideration known availability issues with certain drugs, and why someone may be calling to inquire about stock.

After all, we are here to serve individuals who have medical needs and access to medically necessary medication is extremely important.

A policy that I've seen that may be an option is that some pharmacies will disclose inventory availability, but only if it is the provider's office calling for the information on behalf of their patient. This way you know there is a legitimate prescription for a patient and you are disclosing information to a provider's office, which can then be of assistance to their other patients that may be in a similar bind regarding medication availability.

Final Words

Thanks again for reaching out! I hope this answer was helpful.