When used in this chapter:
(1) "Appointing authority" shall mean the following persons acting jointly: The administrator of the health care authority, the secretary of the department of social and health services, and the director of the department of labor and industries.
(2) "Committee" means the independent Washington state pharmacy and therapeutics committee created by RCW
41.05.021 (1)(a)(iii) and
70.14.050. At the election of the department of social and health services, the committee may serve as the drug use review board provided for in WAC
388-530-1850.
(3) "Drug" means the term as it is defined in RCW
69.41.010 (9) and (12).
(4) "Endorsing practitioner" means a practitioner who has reviewed the preferred drug list and has notified the health care authority that he or she has agreed to allow therapeutic interchange of a preferred drug for any nonpreferred drug in a given therapeutic class.
(5) "Practitioner" means a health care provider, except a veterinarian, as defined at RCW
18.64.011(9).
(6) "Preferred drug" means a drug selected by the appointing authority for inclusion in the preferred drug list used by applicable state agencies for state purchased health care programs.
(7) "Preferred drug list" or "PDL" means the list of drugs selected by the appointing authority to be used by applicable state agencies as the basis for the purchase of drugs in state purchased health care programs.
(8) "Prescription" has the meaning set forth in RCW
18.64.011(8).
(9) "Refill" means the continuation of therapy with the same drug (including the renewal of a previous prescription or adjustments in dosage) when a prescription is for an antipsychotic, antidepressant, chemotherapy, antiretroviral, or immunosuppressive drug, or for the refill of a immunomodulator/antiviral treatment for hepatitis C for which an established, fixed duration of therapy is prescribed for at least twenty-four weeks but no more than forty-eight weeks.
(10) "State purchased health care" has the meaning set forth in RCW
41.05.011(2).
(11) "Therapeutic alternatives" are drug products of different chemical structure within the same pharmacologic or therapeutic class and that are expected to have similar therapeutic effects and safety profiles when administered in therapeutically equivalent doses.
(12) "Therapeutic interchange" means to dispense, with the endorsing practitioner's authorization, a therapeutic alternative to the prescribed drug.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 41.05.160 and 69.41.180. 07-19-031 (Order 07-03), § 182-50-005, filed 9/12/07, effective 10/13/07. Statutory Authority: RCW 41.05.160; 2004 1st sp.s. c 29 § 10. 04-06-021 (Order 03-02), § 182-50-005, filed 2/23/04, effective 3/25/04.]