H.3161 is legislation cleaning up regulations for pharmacy compounding. I have two amendments that will be offered whenever the bill is taken up.
1-The current system allows for a pharmacist to supervise 2 technicians or 3 if 1 out of 3 are board certified. The board certification is an extra level of education that some technicians have. Board certified technicians have extra responsibilities, but in my 24 years of experience, I have seen minimal benefit to this extra education. My amendment allows a pharmacist to supervise 3 technicians whether certified or not. Increasing the pharmacist to pharmacy technician ratio frees up the pharmacist to spend time with their customers helping them understand their medication therapy.
2-Currently, pharmacists are required to get 15 hours of continuing education. The law requires that some of these hours be obtained at a live presentation and the rest either live or home study. The amendment changes this mandate and gives the pharmacist the option of getting all 15 hours live, home study, or a combination of both.
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