Preview Summer Newsletter Pharmacy

The Mission of the Maryland

Board of Pharmacy is to protect

Maryland consumers and to

promote quality health care in

the field of pharmacy through

licensing pharmacists and

issuing permits to pharmacies,

and distributors, setting

standards for the practice of

pharmacy through regulations

and legislation, educating

consumers, and receiving and

resolving complaints from the

public regarding pharmacists,

pharmacies, and distributors.

4201 Patterson Avenue

Baltimore, Maryland 21215

Tel: 410.764.4755

Fax: 410.358.6207

Toll Free: 800.542.4964

TTY: BALTO.383.7555

Visit the Board on the web at www.mdbop.org or e-mail to [email protected].

hange comes very slowly at govern-

ment agencies, often trying one’s

patience to reach the outcome. At the

Board of Pharmacy, this summer, we have

experienced the results of change and

patience. After more than a year of meeting

and planning, the Board has relocated its

office to a more expansive and functional

operation on the first floor of the Patterson

Avenue office complex.

The relocation was necessary, in part, to

prepare for the registration of pharmacy

technicians, scheduled to begin in January

of 2007. Change and patience were para-

mount in the passage of legislation to

approve the registration of pharmacy tech-

nicians. More than three years were

required for the legislature to establish the

law. Numerous amendments and changes

over the thirty-six months of debate pro-

duced the final bill. Change and patience

— a worthwhile combination.

It is ironic that change and patience were

also in play in the passage of legislation to

allow pharmacists to provide immunization

vaccines for the flu. A change in philoso-

phy from the Board of Nursing, and the

patience required to review proposed regu-

lations with the Board of Physicians, gave

Maryland pharmacists a long awaited clini-

cal practice opportunity. The cooperation

of these three professional boards has also

been beneficial in reviewing Drug Therapy

Management protocols and requests for

changes to the dispensing formularies for

mid-wife and local health clinic nurses.

Change has never been more evident than

with the cooperation between the Board of

Pharmacy and the Office of Health Care

Quality (OHCQ). Through the efforts of the

Long Term Care (LTC) Task Force, new regu-

lations will be proposed to include require-

ments for a quarterly pharmacist review for

assisted living residents and annual medical

reviews by physicians or nurse practitioners.

In addition, at the request of OHCQ, the LTC

Task Force is recommending a number of

bulk medications for approval in Skilled

Nursing Facilities. These initiatives required

more than two years of collaboration. Change

and patience…winning again.

The Practice Committee, under Chair Mark

Levi, is busy preparing regulations for the

registration of pharmacy technicians. Those

regulations should be completed by August

and presented to the Board for adoption by

its monthly September meeting. The

Practice Committee continues to answer all

inquiries by letter, after committee review

and Board approval. In addition to

Chairman Levi, the Practice Committee

includes Jeanne Furman, Don Yee, David

Chason, and Rodney Taylor.

Mayer Handelman chairs the Disciplinary

Committee, which is charged with reviewing

consumer complaints. The Committee meets

at least monthly, and is responsible for all

disciplinary cases presented to the Board.

Chairman Handelman’s Committee members

include Rodney Taylor and Donald Taylor. A

Board consumer member will also be

assigned to the Committee once an appoint-

ment is made.

Continued on page 3

CHANGE! PATIENCE!

John Balch, Board President

SUMMER 2006

In This Issue:

Prescription Drug

Respository–2

Fast Bytes–3

Disciplinary Cases–4

Introduction to MIS Unit–5