Q: I recently terminated my position and I need to know how to comply with all the laws regarding prescriptive authority. Could you please tell me if I must notify the Board of Nurse Examiners or any other agency?
A: You are not required to notify the Board of Nurse Examiners (BNE) of a change in your prescriptive authority site or your delegating physician. (The requirement to notify the BNE ended in March 2001.) In addition, neither you nor your delegating physician is required to notify the Texas Medical Board (TMB). As of September 1, 2005, delegating physicians must keep a permanent record of APNs to whom they delegate prescriptive authority and the date that authority terminates, but the TMB no longer requires notification.
If you have a DPS permit for controlled substances, you will need to send written notification to the Department of Public Safety of the change. If you are looking for another NP position, my suggestion is that you wait to notify the DPS until you have another delegating physician. Use DPS form MODPAAPN available for download on the DPS Web site. Be sure to use your new delegating physician's full name in reporting the change, just as you must use the same name you use at the Board of Nurse Examiners., Texas Medical License number, and Texas DPS registration number. Send the completed form to:
Controlled Substances Registration
MSC 0438
Texas Department of Public Safety
Box 4087
Austin, Texas 78773-0438
In addition, the business address associated with your DEA number must be changed. To access the DEA change request form, CLICK HERE.
Just to be clear, even though you retain an active APN prescriptive authority number from the BNE, and possibly DPS and DEA numbers, you cannot sign any prescriptions until you are practicing in another qualifying site and you establish protocols with the new delegating physician. Although this seems obvious, Texas law on delegation of prescriptive authority can be confusing and people have made these types of errors. |
