Legal Status of EPT in Kentucky

I. Statutes/regs on health care providers’ authority to prescribe for STDs to a patient’s partner(s) w/out prior evaluation

[+] “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a practitioner who is licensed to diagnose and prescribe drugs for sexually transmitted infections, including but not limited to trichomoniasis, gonorrhea, or chlamydia infection, who diagnoses a sexually transmitted infection in a patient may provide expedited partner therapy for a sexually transmitted infection to that patient’s sexual partner or partners.” KRS 214.430 (effective June 29, 2023)

[-] Any person infected, or reasonably suspected of being infected, with an STD shall undergo such medical examination as is necessary to determine the existence or nonexistence of diagnosis, and if found to be infected, shall submit to treatment. 902 Ky. Admin. Regs. 2:080.

II. Specific judicial decisions concerning EPT (or like practices)

III. Specific administrative opinions by the Attorney General or medical or pharmacy boards concerning EPT (or like practices)

[-] …if a nurse or other person is dispensing any sort of prescription drug without the immediate supervision of a pharmacist or physician then they would be in direct violation of the prohibitions against such activity. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 315.020(1)-(2) 1978 Ky. AG LEXIS 286 (OAG 78-450)*

IV. Laws that incorporate via reference guidelines as acceptable practices (including EPT)

V. Prescription requirements

[+] Label not required to have patient name. KRS 217.015 (26); see also KRS 217.065 (2), 217.065 (6), and 217.065 (11)(b).

[+] Occupations and Professions Code on Pharmacists, which defines “dispense” as delivering a drug “to or use by a patient or other individual entitled to receive the prescription drug.” KRS 315.010

[-] Pharmacists must create and maintain patient information, including name address, age, list of all prescriptions from the last 12 months, etc., and give counseling to the patient to optimize drug therapy, as appropriate. 201 KAR 2:210

VI. Assessment of EPT’s legal status with brief comments

EPT is permissible.
Statutory authority expressly authorizes EPT for the treatment of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis.