110 HR 5491 IH: Pharmacy Technician Training and
U.S. House of Representatives
2008-02-26
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EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
1.This Act may be cited as the
Pharmacy Technician Training and
Registration Act of 2008
or as Emily’s
Act
.
2.The Congress finds as follows:
(1)Common pharmacy technician tasks include
calling doctors to authorize prescription refills, putting medications into
prescription containers, entering prescriptions into computers, typing drug
labels, and, in many States, mixing drugs from raw materials, preparing
intravenous solutions, and even preparing chemotherapy treatments.
(2)There are few
State and no Federal requirements for formal training or certification of
pharmacy technicians, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
(3)Employment of
pharmacy technicians is expected to grow much faster than the average rate for
all occupations through 2014, because, according to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, as the population grows and ages demand for pharmaceuticals will
increase dramatically.
(4)About 7 out of 10
of pharmacy technician jobs are in retail pharmacies, grocery stores,
department stores, or mass retailers, according to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
(5)About 2 out of 10
pharmacy technician jobs are in hospitals, according to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
(6)Millions of
medication doses are dispensed annually at hospitals, and a February 2006 study
on hospital dispensing errors by the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and
Patient Safety found that pharmacists failed to detect more than 20 percent of
all filling errors made by pharmacy technicians.
(7)The MEDMARX Data
Report released in January 2008 revealed that more than 1,400 commonly used
drugs are involved in medication errors linked to drug names that look or sound
alike. This study reviewed more than 26,000 records from 2003 to 2006. This
result is nearly double the number of pairs that were identified in the
previous report on this topic in 2004.
(8)Since 1992, the
Food and Drug Administration has received more than 20,000 voluntary reports of
medication errors.
3.State
pharmaceutical technician registration programsPart D of title III of the Public Health
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
XIPharmaceutical
technicians
340H.State
pharmaceutical technician registration programs
(a)The
Secretary of Health and Human Services may make grants to States to establish
and implement a pharmaceutical technician registration program described in
subsection (b).
(b)Registration
program descriptionA pharmaceutical technician registration
program described in this subsection is a program under which—
(1)the State
prohibits an individual from performing the duties of a pharmaceutical
technician in such State unless the individual is registered by the State Board
of Pharmacy to perform such duties; and
(2)as minimum
requirements for such registration, the State requires the individual—
(A)to have attained a secondary school diploma
or its recognized equivalent;
(B)to be certified by
the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board; and
(C)to have—
(i)attained an
associate’s degree in pharmacy technology;
(ii)completed a course of training for
pharmaceutical technicians accredited by the American Society of Health-System
Pharmacists; or
(iii)graduated from a school of pharmacy
recognized by the State Board of Pharmacy.
(c)Annual reporting
on pharmaceutical technician errorsAs a condition on the receipt
of a grant under this section, a State shall agree to submit an annual report
to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on pharmaceutical technician
errors in the State.
(d)Transitional
period for practicing techniciansA State receiving a grant under
this section may provide a transitional period for individuals who began
practicing as pharmaceutical technicians before the date of the enactment of
this section to comply with the requirements of the registration program under
this section.
(e)In
this section:
(1)The term
State Board of Pharmacy means the regulatory body empowered by the
State to regulate the pharmaceutical practice, including granting registrations
to and disciplining individuals and companies.
(2)The term pharmacy technician
means an individual who assists a pharmacist in the performance of his or her
pharmacy-related duties.
(3)The term
secondary school has the meaning given to such term in section
9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
(4)The term
Secretary means the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
.
4.It is the sense of
the Congress that State Boards of Pharmacy should strive to ensure—
(1)a
ratio of 2 pharmaceutical technicians to each pharmacist in hospital settings;
and
(2)a
ratio of 3 pharmaceutical technicians to each pharmacist in other settings,
including drug stores.