A licensed pharmacy may provide to a nursing facility a limited quantity of controlled legend drugs, a limited amount of noncontrolled legend drugs, and nonprescription drugs, for emergency and supportive treatment, if requested in writing by the medical director. The provider pharmacy shall retain control of all medications provided in emergency kits.

1. (1) The medical director, director of nursing, and provider pharmacist shall jointly determine and prepare a limited list of emergency drugs by identity and quantity;
2. (2) No more than ten different controlled drugs may be stored in the emergency kit, which may not contain more than twenty doses of any controlled drug;
3. (3) There must be a policy in place that the nursing staff must notify the provider pharmacy of any drug taken from the emergency kit;
4. (4) The provider pharmacy staff shall inventory and restock the contents of the emergency kit after reported use or at least monthly;
5. (5) The emergency kit must be stored in a suitable, controlled location in the nursing facility to prevent the unauthorized access of the drugs within it. The emergency kit exterior must be labeled clearly, that it is an emergency kit and is for emergency use only. The emergency kit must contain the name, strength, quantity, and expiration date of drugs contained therein; and

6. (6) The provider pharmacy must provide each facility where an emergency kit is placed with a contact number to a pharmacist twenty-four hours a day.

   All other controlled and noncontrolled legend medications must be obtained from a pharmacy licensed to dispense to patients pursuant to SDCL 34-12B-1 and 34-12B-2.

The provider pharmacist shall comply with the following requirements:

Source: 26 SDR 92, effective January 6, 2000 ; 50 SDR 138, effective June 2, 2024; 52 SDR 27, effective September 15, 2025 .

General Authority: SDCL 36-11-11 (1)(4).

Law Implemented: SDCL 36-11- 2.2 , 36-11-33 , 36-11-34 .

Prior versions effective: 2024-06-02, 2000-01-06.