Pharmacy board delays action on proposed pill-splitting regulations

Shaunta Grimes

Friday, Nov. 5, 1999 | 10:43 a.m.

The state Board of Pharmacy chose not to vote on a pill-splitting regulation Thursday and instead tabled the issue for a future meeting.

The vote would have determined if the board would pass a regulation barring insurance companies from requiring doctors to prescribe double doses of three popular medications that the patients would split into the correct dosage size using a pill-splitting tool.

Two of the medications, Zoloft and Celexa, both antidepressants, are scored for splitting, but the third, Lipitor, a cholesterol reducer, is not. Sandra Sherlock, 64, a Lipitor user, was at Thursday's meeting to show the board how her unscored pills break apart when split.

The pharmacy board decided to delay voting on the regulation while Executive Director Keith Macdonald works with the state Legislature to make the pill-splitting regulation a state law.

The reason for this measure is the insuring companies that are requiring pill splitting could refuse to pay for single dosage pills, even if doctors are not allowed to prescribe them, Macdonald said.

"The state Board of Pharmacy cannot enforce rules about reimbursement against insuring groups," Macdonald said.

Macdonald said the board also is changing some of the regulation's language so that all forms of single-dosage medications will be included.

"Pills are not the only form of medication that can be split. The new language will cover other forms, such as patches."