3.9 Medical Practitioners - Authorized Prescribing

Midwives registered with the College of Midwives of British Columbia (CMBC) are authorized to prescribe a limited number of drugs.

Schedules A and B of the Health Professions Act – Midwives Regulation lists all drugs and substances that a midwife is authorized to prescribe, order or administer. The regulation and its schedules are available in the Standards and Regulations section of the College of Midwives website.

Not all CMBC-authorized drugs are PharmaCare benefits.

To enquire about CMBC bylaws, Schedules A and B or the registration status of any midwife, pharmacists should contact the registrar of the CMBC.

Details of the specific medications nurse practitioners may prescribe, and the limits and conditions for prescribing, are set out in the Scope of Practice Standards documents for each type of nurse practitioner (family, adult and pediatric practice).

The Scope of Practice Standards are available in the Nurse Practitioner Scope of Practice section of the British Columbia College of Nursing Professionals website.

As of April 1, 2009, qualified registrants of the College of Optometry of British Columbia are authorized to prescribe medications for the topical treatment of eye disease in accordance with the standards, limits and conditions of practice established by the College of Optometry.

For further details, refer to “Standards, Limits and Conditions in the Treatment of Eye Disease” in the regulation section of the College of Optometry of British Columbia website.

Dentists may prescribe both narcotic and non-narcotic medications for their patients.

Podiatrists licensed by the College of Podiatric Surgeons of British Columbia may prescribe non-narcotic medications for their patients.

Naturopathic physicians are authorized to prescribe certain pharmaceutical medicines in accordance with the standards, limits and conditions of practice established by their college.

For more information on prescribing by naturopathic physicians, visit the College of Naturopathic Physicians of BC website.

Veterinarians may prescribe drugs for animals. However, a drug prescribed for an animal is never a PharmaCare benefit, even if the same drug would be a benefit for a human (e.g., the owner).

A veterinarian’s prescription must be dispensed under the owner’s PHN. An animal must never be assigned a PHN.

Physicians are not permitted to prescribe drugs for animals.

Same drug, same day for pet and pet owner

In the rare situation in which a pharmacy fills a prescription for the same drug on the same day for both a pet and a pet owner:

• Submit the claim for the patient (pet owner) first to ensure the pet owner's medication profile is accurate.
• If the claim for the pet has already been processed, submit the patient claim with the intervention code UF.
• If you forget to enter the UF intervention code and the claim is rejected, contact the PharmaNet Data Quality Services Team (under PharmaNet Profile Corrections) to correct the problem before you re-submit the prescription claim with the UF code.