At a glance
EPT is permissible in Massachusetts February 03, 2023.
Findings
[+] supports the use of EPT
[-] negatively affects the use of EPT
I. Statutes/regs on health care providers’ authority to prescribe for STDs to a patient’s partner(s) w/out prior evaluation (Explanation)
[+] “A registered physician, physician assistant, certified nurse practitioner, or nurse midwife may provide expedited partner therapy (EPT) for the treatment of chlamydia infection, which is the prescribing or dispensing for immediate treatment… for the treatment of a sex partner or partners of a patient diagnosed with chlamydia infection…” 105 CMR 700.003(J) (effective 7/1/2011)
II. Specific judicial decisions concerning EPT (or like practices) (Explanation)
III. Specific administrative opinions by the Attorney General or medical or pharmacy boards concerning EPT (or like practices) (Explanation)
[-] In 2003, the Board of Registration in Medicine issued a policy on internet prescriptions, providing that “to satisfy the requirement that a prescription be issued by a practitioner in the usual course of his professional practice, there must be a physician-patient relationship that is for the purpose of maintaining the patient’s well-being and the physician must conform to certain minimum norms and standards for the care of patients, such as taking an adequate medical history and conducting an appropriate physical and/or mental status examination and recording the results.” It concluded that issuance of a prescription “by any means, including the internet,…that does not meet these requirements is therefore unlawful.” Note that the Board did not clarify, in citing a statutory provision on prescriptions for controlled substances, whether its position on issuing prescriptions without an exam also applies to the issuance of non-controlled substances.*
IV. Laws that incorporate via reference guidelines as acceptable practices (including EPT) (Explanation)
V. Prescription requirements (Explanation)
[+] “In a case in which the patient is provided with a prescription for the patient’s sex partner, there shall be a separate prescription for the sex partner, which includes on the prescription form, where the name and address of the patient is to be noted, either the name of the sex partner or the words “Expedited Partner Therapy,” “E.P.T.” or “EPT”…” 105 CMR 700.003
VI. Assessment of EPT’s legal status with brief comments (Explanation)
EPT is permissible.
Department of Public Health regulations authorize EPT for the treatment of chlamydia.
Department of Public Health regulations authorize EPT for the treatment of chlamydia.
* This legal authority predates the effective date of the state’s law that authorizes EPT.
Status as of February 03, 2023