155A.32  Drug product selection — restrictions.
  1.  If an authorized prescriber prescribes, in writing, electronically, by facsimile, or orally, a drug by its brand or trade name, the pharmacist may exercise professional judgment in the economic interest of the patient by selecting a drug product with the same generic name and demonstrated bioavailability as the one prescribed for dispensing and sale to the patient. If the cost of the prescription or any part of it will be paid by expenditure of public funds authorized under chapter 249A, the pharmacist shall exercise professional judgment by selecting a drug product with the same generic name and demonstrated bioavailability as the one prescribed for dispensing and sale. If the pharmacist exercises drug product selection, the pharmacist shall inform the patient of the savings which the patient will obtain as a result of the drug product selection and pass on to the patient no less than fifty percent of the difference in actual acquisition costs between the drug prescribed and the drug substituted.
  2.  The pharmacist shall not exercise the drug product selection described in this section if either of the following is true:
  a.  The prescriber specifically indicates that no drug product selection shall be made.
  b.  The person presenting the prescription indicates that only the specific drug product prescribed should be dispensed. However, this paragraph does not apply if the cost of the prescription or any part of it will be paid by expenditure of public funds authorized under chapter 249A.
  3.  If selection of a generically equivalent product is made under this section, the pharmacist making the selection shall note that fact and the name of the manufacturer of the selected drug on the prescription presented by the patient or the patient’s adult representative or transmitted by the prescriber or the prescriber’s authorized agent.
87 Acts, ch 215, §32
; 
2004 Acts, ch 1036, §17