Pharmacy Practice Acts: A Five-Year Follow-up

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To rereview the status of state pharmacy practice acts since 1987. Additionally, this report discusses adoption of the 1992 National Association of Boards of Pharmacy Model State Pharmacy Practice Act as the standard state pharmacy practice statute. DATA SOURCES: State codes for 50 states and the District of Columbia, with attention focused on the pharmacy practice acts; Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands were excluded. CASE LAW SELECTION: Case law utilizing state pharmacy statutes was selected to demonstrate pharmacists' liability. DATA EXTRACTION: The focus on each statute was the statutory definition of the “practice of pharmacy.” DATA SYNTHESIS: Twelve pharmacy laws (24 percent) contain no definition of the practice of pharmacy. Compounding (92 percent), dispensing (100 percent), interpretation and evaluation of prescriptions (72 percent), consultation (85 percent), drug utilization review (69 percent), drug product selection (54 percent), drug administration (21 percent), pharmacokinetic consultation and patient assessment (13 percent) were noted in the laws for the remaining 38 states and the District of Columbia. Significant pharmacy activities codified since 1987 include consultation, drug administration, pharmacokinetic consultation, and patient assessment. Statutes defining pharmacy practice impact the profession by affecting liability and by mirroring society's view of the role of the profession. CONCLUSIONS: States have enacted new statutes principally in the areas of progressive pharmacy practice functions since 1987. Enactment of the definition of professional practice contained in the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy Model State Pharmacy Practice Act would serve the pharmacy profession by: (1) creating a uniform professional purpose; (2) creating legal responsibility that reflects contemporary practice; (3) allowing pharmacists to enlarge the scope of their practice as the profession's societal role evolves; and (4) conserving revenues normally consumed by lobbying for constant legislative revisions.