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Official Newsjournal of the Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists

Board of Pharmacy Update
Highlights of the January 2020 Meeting

by Scott A. Meyers, Executive Vice President

The January 14^th Board of Pharmacy Meeting was held at the Michael A. Bilandic Building, 160 N. LaSalle Street in downtown Chicago. These are the highlights of that meeting.

NABP Update - Board members will be involved in the annual March/April Multi-State Pharmacy Jurisprudence Examination (MPJE) item writing workshop writing new questions for the Illinois portion of the exam. The Board will also be well represented at the NABP Annual Meeting in Baltimore in May. Denise Scarpelli, current Board Chair, will be the Illinois delegate to the meeting and Desi Kotis, Board Vice Chair, will serve as the alternate delegate.

2020 Board of Pharmacy Meeting Dates – The Board will continue to meet on the second Tuesday of each odd-numbered month during 2020 with the May meeting to be held in Springfield.

March 10^th - Chicago
May 12^th - Springfield*
July 14^th - Chicago
September 8^th - Chicago
November 10^th - Chicago

*all Board meetings will begin at 10:30 am except the May meeting in Springfield which will begin at 11:00 am to allow Chicago-area Board members to take Amtrak.

Department Time – This time is normally provided to allow updates from the Department staff. Pharmacy Coordinator, Dr. Yash Amin announced forthcoming changes to the Self-Inspection forms. Please watch for the new forms to appear on the Department website soon. No details were provided at the meeting.

At the January meeting the Department staff also fielded questions from the audience regarding the new Sexual Harassment Prevention CE and Pharmacy Working Condition requirements that went into effect on January 1, 2020.

Who needs to obtain the Sexual Harassment Prevention CE before license renewal in March?
Pharmacists and Certified Pharmacy Technician will need to obtain the credit while students, grandfathered and new technicians will not. Student pharmacists who are certified pharmacy technicians will need to obtain the CE credit if they wish to maintain their certified pharmacy technician status on their Illinois license.
Will the Department investigators be enforcing the record keeping requirements for meal and rest breaks right away?
The Department intends to spend the first three months of 2020 educating pharmacists-in-charge on how to record breaks. Only breaks for pharmacists must be recorded. Pharmacists-in-charge should begin working on this requirement immediately.
Do the new revisions to the Act now officially allow pharmacy technicians to administer immunizations?
Pharmacy technicians and certified pharmacy technicians may administer immunizations if they have been trained using a Department approved training program as long as the pharmacist on duty has reviewed the patient profile to determine appropriateness. To date no training programs have been reviewed.

Legislative Review – Because the General Assembly has yet to meet this year, two bills passed during the Veto Session were discussed. SB0667 requires insurance providers that cover any of the cost of insulin to limit the patient’s out of pocket costs to $100 or less. The bill still awaits the Governor’s signature. SB2104 was the bill which made multiple changes to the Illinois Pharmacy Practice Act including extending its expiration date through December 31, 2023. Garth Reynolds, IPhA Executive Vice President presented the report.

Audience Comments – The only remaining question for the Board members and Department staff came from Garth Reynolds and asked what the current status on pharmacy investigators is. Dr. Yash Amin, Pharmacy Compliance Director stated that the Department recently approved hiring two more investigators to add to the existing five.