Pharmacy Practice Act

The bill makes changes to the pharmacy practice act regarding the dispensing of prescription drugs by pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and pharmacy interns. The bill allows prescription drugs dispensed through an automated pharmacy dispensing system to be redispensed if certain safety requirements are met. The bill also allows pharmacists certified in immunization, and pharmacy technicians and pharmacy interns working under the direct supervision of a pharmacist certified in immunization, to administer vaccines and other related emergency medications. Current law defines the practice of pharmacy to allow pharmacists to exercise independent prescriptive authority under certain conditions for patients who are at least 12 years of age. The bill removes the age limitation. The bill authorizes a pharmacy technician or a pharmacy intern, under the supervision of a pharmacist, to replenish medication in a cassette device used for the automatic packaging of medication. The bill also allows:

• A prescription drug that has been dispensed by a cassette device to be returned to an automated pharmacy dispensing system for redispensing as long as certain safety requirements are met;
• A prescription drug that is dispensed but not delivered to a patient to be returned to stock and redispensed as long as it is stored in the container in which it was dispensed and maintains a label that accurately identifies its contents with respect to the original prescription label.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)