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Official Newsjournal of the Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists

Government Affairs Report
A Report on the Final Meeting of the Collaborative Pharmaceutical Task Force

by Scott A. Meyers, Executive Vice President

The Task Force met via conference call on Tuesday, September 8th for its final meeting. In October, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation will provide a report of this year’s Task Force recommendations to the Illinois General Assembly for possible implementation during the November and December Veto Session. While the final report has not been completed at the time of this writing. The following is a summary of the recommendations that will be contained in the Task Force Report.

The 2020 Task Force Report will contain the following recommendations:

Establishment of a process to create standing orders through the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Creation of an exemption to the 12-hour shift length limit for residents participating in nationally accredited residency programs.
Revision of the Pharmacy Practice Act to clarify when mandatory meal breaks must be taken, and exempting non-dispensing pharmacists from meal and rest break recordkeeping.
Revision of the Pharmacy Practice Act to require all pharmacies to establish and maintain a continuous quality improvement program with protections for those programs from subpoena of work documents for state or federal civil or criminal litigation.
Appointment by the General Assembly of a new Task Force, charged with identifying a new reimbursement and remuneration model for pharmacist-provided patient care services.

When the Task Force’s final official report becomes available, ICHP will post it (or a link to it) on the ICHP website and announce its availability to the membership.

(Author’s Note: During last year’s Veto Session, the General Assembly expanded the original Task Force by 6 members, including 4 legislators. During this year’s deliberations, only three of the four legislators were actually appointed to the Task Force and no legislator participated in any meeting of the group.)