3.20 Veterinary Prescriptions

General Policy Description

Veterinary prescriptions are never a PharmaCare benefit, however, every veterinary dispense must be recorded in PharmaNet.

Policy details

Veterinary prescriptions for animals are never a PharmaCare benefit, even if the same drug would be a benefit for a human.

Any veterinary prescription dispensed in a community pharmacy must be:

• Written by a veterinarian – physicians are not permitted to prescribe drugs for animals
• Entered in PharmaNet under the owner’s PHN, and
• Clearly identified as a dispense for an animal

To prevent a drug for an animal from adjudicating in PharmaNet as a PharmaCare benefit:

• Use the veterinarian’s licence number as the Practitioner ID
• Use V9 as the reference code for the College of Veterinarians of B.C.

This ensures the drug does not appear on the pet owner’s record as a dispense for them, which would affect drug utilization evaluation (DUE) results.

Failure to properly process veterinary medications in PharmaNet may result in inappropriate PharmaCare coverage and could have serious implications for patient safety.

Adaptation and emergency supplies

Pharmacists cannot dispense prescriptions for animals as an emergency supply or an adaptation under the pharmacist’s licence number.

Claims for the same drug on the same day for a patient and their pet

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 – patient gave adequate explanation”

If you forget to enter the UF intervention code and the claim is rejected, try reversing the claim first and reprocessing it with UF intervention code. Contact the PharmaNet Data Quality Services Team if you need help correcting the problem.