Recently, three departments, including the General Office of the National Health Commission ("NHC"), have issued the Good Practice for Medical Institutions to Examine Prescriptions (the "Good Practice"), immediately effective from the issue date.
The Good Practice, comprised of 23 articles in seven chapters, provides for basic requirements on the examination of prescriptions, examination basis and procedures, what to be examined, examination quality management, training, etc. Further, the Good Practice explicitly states that any prescription shall pass the examination, before offering the drug prices, charging the corresponding drug expenses and distributing medicines; otherwise, it is not allowed to charge the expenses and distribute medicines. Moreover, the Good Practice notes that a pharmacist is the first individual responsible for prescription examination and shall check each medicine on the prescription on an item-by-item basis. A medical institution may to assist its pharmacists in reviewing prescriptions through the relevant information system. According to the Good Practice, among what to be examined is whether the prescription is valid, whether the prescription is issued in a standardized way and whether the prescription issued is appropriate. In particular, the examination of whether the prescription is valid will cover three issues, including "whether the prescription issuer has obtained the physician qualification and registered its practicing in accordance with the Law on Medical Practitioners".