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Legal Matters - Online Pharmacies — Take Heed!

from Drug Benefit Trends

Summit Meeting

In response to these events, interested parties have taken steps to meet these problems head-on. Several online pharmacies and pharmaceutical benefit managers, state and federal regulators, consumer advocates, and medical groups convened the first Internet health care summit on November 9, 1999, in Washington, DC, to discuss the problem of fraudulent pharmacy sites on the Internet. The primary focus of the summit, organized by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), was stopping online pharmacy fraud. As a result of the meeting, a task force on technology will be established to determine the extent of online pharmacy fraud and abuse. The task force will be headed by NABP.

The summit proposed two other initiatives. One initiative would create "Operation Safe Net," which would permit consumers to report fraudulent pharmacy sites that would be investigated and prosecuted, if appropriate, by NABP. The other initiative involves consumer education. Most consumers are unaware that online pharmacies can be "certified" as verified Internet pharmacy practice sites (VIPPS), allowing the online pharmacy to show the VIPPS seal on the web site. The VIPPS seal certifies that the online pharmacy is licensed by the applicable state boards of pharmacy and has met certain criteria related to quality, communication, storage and shipment, and over-the-counter products.

The quick responses to these issues taken by pharmacies and other interested parties are important steps. If fraudulent actions by online pharmacies are not addressed by the industry as quickly as possible, the ultimate outcome may be the passage of confusing and burdensome state or federal laws and regulations that have a chilling effect on pharmacies' participation in the wave of the future — the Internet. Those who have experienced the complexity of health care regulations know that the fewer the laws imposed on a business, the easier it is to operate effectively. Policing these issues in the industry may keep the issues off the radar screen of the legislators and out of the law books.

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Drug Benefit Trends 12(1):21-22, 2000. © 2000 Cliggott Publishing, Division of SCP Communications