(

a) Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter, a licensed hospital that contains beds or fewer, and that does not employ a full-time pharmacist, may purchase drugs at wholesale for administration, under the direction of a physician, or for dispensation by a physician, to persons registered as inpatients of the hospital, to emergency cases under treatment in the hospital, or, under the conditions described in subdivision (f), to persons registered as outpatients in a rural hospital as defined in

Section of the Health and Safety Code. The hospital shall keep records of the kind and amounts of drugs so purchased and administered or dispensed, and the records shall be available for inspection by all properly authorized personnel of the board. (

b) No hospital shall be entitled to the benefits of subdivision (

a) until it has obtained a license from the board. Each license shall be issued to a specific hospital and for a specific location. (

c) Each application for a license under this

section shall be made on a form furnished by the board. Upon the filing of the application and payment of the fee prescribed in subdivision (

a) of

Section 4400, the executive officer of the board shall issue a license authorizing the hospital to which it is issued to purchase drugs at wholesale pursuant to subdivision (a). The license shall be renewed annually on or before November of each year upon payment of the renewal fee prescribed in subdivision (

b) of

Section and shall not be transferable. (

d) The form of application for a license under this

section shall contain the name and address of the applicant, the number of beds, whether the applicant is a licensed hospital, whether it does or does not employ a full-time pharmacist, the name of its chief medical officer, and the name of its administrator. (

e) The board may deny, revoke, or suspend a license issued under this

section in the manner and for the grounds specified in

Article 19 (commencing with

Section 4300). (

f) A physician himself or herself may dispense drugs to outpatients directly pursuant to subdivision (

a) only if the physician determines that it is in the best interest of the patient that a particular drug regimen be immediately commenced or continued, and the physician reasonably believes that a pharmacy located outside the hospital is not available and accessible at the time of dispensation to the patient within minutes of the hospital pharmaceutical services or within a 30-mile radius from the hospital pharmaceutical services by means of the method of transportation the patient states that he or she intends to use.

The quantity of drugs dispensed to any outpatient pursuant to this subdivision shall be limited to that amount necessary to maintain uninterrupted therapy during the period when pharmaceutical services outside the hospital are not readily available or accessible, but shall not exceed a 72-hour supply. The physician shall ensure that the label on the drug contains all the information required by

Section 4076. (

g) A rural hospital, as defined in

Section of the Health and Safety Code, shall obtain information regarding the hours of operation of each pharmacy located within the minute or 30-mile radius of the hospital. The hospital shall update this information annually, and shall make this information available to its medical staff. (

h) A licensed hospital that contains beds or fewer, does not employ a full-time pharmacist, and purchases drugs at wholesale for administration or dispensation pursuant to subdivision (a), shall retain the services of a pharmacist consultant to monitor and review the pharmaceutical services provided by the hospital to inpatients of the hospital, and the dispensing of drugs by physicians to outpatients pursuant to subdivision (f). (

i) This

section shall not be construed to eliminate the requirements of

Section or of the Health and Safety Code.