1. (1) Facility and/or Program staff must continue all currently prescribed and verified medications to youth prior to entering the department’s custody.
2. (2) A duly licensed Physician, PA or APRN must make all changes in medication regimens subsequent to an appropriate assessment. Under no circumstances may staff in a facility discontinue an appropriately prescribed medication that the youth is receiving upon admission.
3. (3) Upon admission to a facility, the youth and parent or guardian/assigned custodian (if available), shall be interviewed about the youth’s current medications.
4. (4) Medication verification shall also take place during the completion of the Health-Related History, and/or the Comprehensive Physical Assessment.
5. (5) Only medications from a licensed pharmacy, with a current, patient-specific label intact on the original medication container may be accepted into a department facility.

6. (6) Medications may not be administered unless all of the following have been met:

   1. (a) The youth reports that he or she is taking a prescribed oral medication;
   2. (b) Either the youth or the parent/guardian/assigned custodian has brought the valid, patient-specific medication container to the facility, or can be verified by contacting the current provider or dispensing pharmacy;
   3. (c) The substance in the medication container has been verified as the correct medication; and,
   4. (d) The medication is properly labeled.
7. (7) After medication verification, the Medication Receipt, Transfer, & Disposition Form (HS 053, October 2023) shall be completed, with copy of the form provided to the parent/guardian/assigned custodian (when parent/guardian/assigned custodian is available). The Medication Receipt, Transfer & Disposition Form (HS 053) is incorporated into this rule and is available electronically at HYPERLINK "http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-17512"http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-17512. The original form shall be a part of the Individual Health Care Record.
8. (8) Further medication verification requires DHA or physician designee, PA, or APRN notification and a medical evaluation of the youth completed, with documentation in the Chronological Progress Notes.
9. (9) A Practitioner’s Order from the DHA or Physician Designee, PA or APRN is required to resume the specified medications.
10. (10) Trained, non-licensed staff must verify the medications when youth are admitted to a facility and licensed nurses are not on duty.
11. (11) The Designated Health Authority or physician designee, PA or APRN shall be notified withing 24 hours when a youth with a medication has been admitted into the facility.
12. (12) Any contact made with the youth’s prescribing community practitioner(s) shall be documented on a chronological progress note and filed in the youth's Individual Health Care Record.
13. (13) Any medication that is not successfully verified will be destroyed and documented as such per Rule 63M-2.027, F.A.C., or returned to the parent/legal guardian/assigned custodian

Rulemaking Authority 985.64(2) FS. Law Implemented 985.64(2), 985.145, 985.18 FS. History–New 3-16-14, Amended 2-5-25.