Mississippi

Mississippi has passed Senate Bill 2687 (the Mississippi Direct Primary Care Act) through both the Senate and the House and it was signed into law by the governor on March 18, 2015, making Mississippi the ninth state to pass DPC legislation.  Eventually the laws passage will be reflected in revised language in Miss. Code Ann. § 83-1-101.  It would be wise to continue to review the Mississippi Insurance Code when planning your DPC practice.

Dispensing: Scheduled drug dispensing requirements are understandably extensive but we have not located any registration requirement for dispensing non-scheduled drugs. MS Code § 41-29-305 (2016) states that a “physician or a dentist, in good faith and in the course of his professional practice only, may prescribe, administer, dispense, mix or otherwise prepare narcotic drugs, or he may cause the same to be administered by a nurse or interne under his direction and supervision.” According to Part 2640: Prescribing, Administering and Dispensing: “Dispensing Physician” means any physician who dispenses to a patient for the patient's use any controlled substance, legend drug or other medication where such medication is purchased by the physician for resale to a patient whether or not a separate charge is made. As stated in Part 2617, it is understood that Physician Assistants may not dispense medications.

Source: Miss. Code Ann. §73-43-11 (1972, as amended).

Rule 1.9 Labeling Requirements for Dispensing Physicians. For the purposes of this rule, a “dispensing physician” means any physician who dispenses to a patient for the patient's use any controlled substance, legend drug or other medication where such medication is purchased by the physician for resale to a patient whether or not a separate charge is made. Every dispensing physician, as defined above, who dispenses a controlled substance, legend drug or any other medication must insure that all such substances dispensed be labeled containing the following information:

A. The name of the patient to whom the medication was dispensed.
B. The date that the medication was dispensed.
C. The name, strength and quantity of the medication.
D. Direction for taking or administering the medication.
E. The name and address of the physician dispensing the medication.

The label required by this rule must be written in legible handwriting or typed and must be permanently affixed to the package or container in which the medication is dispensed. Prepackaged samples or starter packs in their original packages or containers need only have the patient name, date distributed, and physician’s name if the manufacturer’s packaging meets other requirements.

No physician may delegate dispensing authority to another person. A physician must personally dispense the medication. For the purpose of this regulation, “personally dispense” means the physician must actually obtain the medication, prepare, count, place the same into the appropriate container and affix the appropriate label to the container.