Legal Status of EPT in South Carolina

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

[+] “[…] a licensee may prescribe for a patient whom the licensee has not personally examined under certain circumstances including, but not limited to, writing admission orders for a newly hospitalized patient, prescribing for a patient of another licensee for whom the prescriber is taking call, prescribing for a patient examined by a licensed advanced practice registered nurse, a physician assistant, or other physician extender authorized by law and supervised by the physician, continuing medication on a short-term basis for a new patient before the patient’s first appointment, or prescribing for a patient for whom the licensee has established a physician-patient relationship solely via telemedicine so long as the licensee complies with Section 40-47-37 of this act.” S.C. Code Ann. § 40-47-113(B) (emphasis added)

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

[-] Revocation of physician’s license upheld based on Board’s finding (among other charges) that physician wrote prescriptions outside of physician-patient relationship. Gale v. State Bd. of Med. Examiners, 320 S.E.2d 35 (S.C. Ct. App. 1984).*

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

[+] “The Board’s position is that this provision contemplates situations other than the specifically identified circumstances in which a licensee may prescribe for a patient whom the licensee has not personally examined.[…] the Board issues this Position Statement to inform its licensees that it interprets S.C. Code Ann. § 40-47-113(B) to allow for the use of EPT. More specifically, the Board concludes that this provision allows licensees to prescribe for the sexual partners of patients diagnosed with chlamydia and gonorrhea, in accordance with CDC guidelines in effect at the time of treatment, without establishing a licensee-patient relationship as otherwise required by S.C. Code Ann. § 40-47-113(A). The Board does not view such prescribing as unprofessional conduct.” South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners Position Statement on the Use of Expedited Partner Therapy

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

[+] Regulations incorporated by reference include but are not limited to: (1) APHA’s CCD Manual, most current edition; (2) AAP’s “Red Book,” most current edition; and (3) when necessary, the health department shall adopt other accepted national public health recommendations such as CDC guidelines, or make other policies as needed. S.C. Code Ann. Regs. 61-20

V. Prescription requirements

[-] Prescription drug order requires full name and address of patient. S.C. Code Ann. § 40-43-86(E)(1). However, prescription label need not bear patient’s name unless the prescription order does so. S.C. Code Ann. § 39-23-50(b)(2).*

[-] Pharmacists may compound medications for an individual patient based on the “existence of a pharmacist/patient/practitioner relationship and the presentation of a valid prescription….” S.C. Code Ann. § 40-43-86(CC)(2)(b)*

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

EPT is permissible. The South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners issued a policy statement to clarify that it interprets S.C. Code Ann. § 40-47-113(B) to allow for the use of EPT by physicians for the treatment of chlamydia and gonorrhea.