New Hampshire Scorecard

Grading Scale:
A – 85-100%, B – 70-84.9%, C – 55-69.9%, D – 40-54.9%, F – 0-39.9%

Grading Categories & Criteria

New Hampshire Law

I. Laws
New Hampshire Statutes

TITLE XXX OCCUPATIONS AND PROFESSIONS
CHAPTER 318 PHARMACISTS AND PHARMACIES
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/XXX/318/318-mrg.htm

318:1 Definitions.
XI-a. “Pharmacy technician” means a person, other than a pharmacist, either registered or certified by the board for the purpose of assisting a pharmacist in the practice of pharmacy.
318:5-a Rulemaking Authority. – The board shall adopt rules, pursuant to RSA 541-A, relative to:
X. Registration or certification of pharmacy technicians, including:
(a) Requirements for registration or certification;
(b) The duties, functions, and standards of conduct of pharmacy technicians;
(c) Requirements for the supervision of pharmacy technicians by licensed pharmacists;
(d) Standards for denial and revocation of registration and certification;
(e) Establishment of the effective period of registration or certification;
(f) Requirements for renewal of registration or certification; and
(g) Requirements for reinstatement of registration or certification.
XI. The establishment of fees for registration or certification of pharmacy technicians, including fees for renewal or reinstatement .
318:6-a Fees. – The board shall establish fees for examination of applicants, for licenses and for renewal of licenses to practice pharmacy, for registration and certification of pharmacy technicians, and for transcribing and transferring records and other services.
318:15-a Pharmacy Technician. – No person shall perform the functions or duties of a pharmacy technician unless such person is either registered by the board to perform certain functions or, upon completion of training, certified to perform certain functions, and does so under standards of supervision established by rules of the board adopted pursuant to RSA 541-A.

New Hampshire State Pharmacy Administrative Rules
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rules/state_agencies/ph100-1400.html

CHAPTER Ph 800 PHARMACY TECHNICIANS
Ph 801.01 Purpose and Scope. The provisions of this chapter shall apply to, and impose duties upon, all pharmacy technicians holding registrations issued by the board.

Ph 802.01 Definitions. Except where the context makes another meaning manifest, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) “Registered pharmacy technician” means a person employed by a pharmacy who may assist in performing, under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist, manipulative, nondiscretionary functions associated with the practice of pharmacy and other such duties and subject to such restrictions as the board has specified.
PART Ph 803 REGISTRATION

Ph 803.01 Application.

(a) No person shall perform the functions or duties of a pharmacy technician unless such person is registered by the board.

(b) Application form PT-1 for registration of pharmacy technicians in New Hampshire may be obtained from and shall be filed at the office of the board, identified in Ph 103.03.

(c) An applicant for registration as a registered pharmacy technician shall meet the following requirements:

(1) Be at least 18 years of age or have a high school or equivalent diploma, or be working to achieve a high school or equivalent diploma;

(2) Be of good moral character;

(3) Shall not have been convicted of a drug-related felony or admitted to sufficient facts to warrant such findings; and

(4) Shall have training or experience as determined by the pharmacist-in-charge.

(d) Applicants for registration shall submit an application form PT-1 for registration to the board that contains the following:

(1) Name, residence address, home telephone number and social security number of the applicant;

(2) Date and place of birth of the applicant;

(3) Name of current employer and address of employment site;

(4) Record of convictions of violations of federal, state or local drug or pharmacy related laws or regulations;

(5) Any felony convictions;

(6) Applicant’s signature and date; and

(7) The prescribed fee which shall be $25.

Ph 806.03 Renewal Application Contents and When Filed. Renewal applications shall be filed with the board in accordance with the following:

(a) Applications for renewal of a registration of a pharmacy technician shall be made on Pharmacy Technician Renewal Form PT-2.

(b) Each applicant shall provide the following on Form PT-2 regarding himself/herself:

(1) Name, residence address, home telephone number;

(2) Original registration number;

(3) Social security number and date of birth;

(4) Name of current employer and address of employment site;

(5) Record of convictions of violations of federal, state or local drug or pharmacy related laws or regulations; and

(6) Applicant’s signature and date.

(c) The application and the prescribed fee of $25 shall be filed with the board no later than March 31.
PART Ph 807 PHARMACY TECHNICIANS – STANDARDS OF PRACTICE

Ph 807.01 Responsibilities and Duties. Persons subject to these rules shall comply with the following:

(a) It shall be the responsibility of the pharmacist-in-charge to identify pharmacy technicians and to assure that such persons are registered with the board as pharmacy technicians within 30 days of employment.

(b) All pharmacy technicians shall wear a name tag, identifying them as a “Pharmacy Technician”, while on duty.

(c) The pharmacist on duty shall determine the duties of the pharmacy technician based upon the needs of the pharmacy. Pharmacy technicians shall be limited to performing tasks in the preparation of legend drugs and devices and to provide nonjudgmental technical support services, as defined in Ph 807.01.

(d) Pharmacy technicians shall not:

(1) Accept an original telephone order for a prescription;

(2) Accept a refill authorization communicated by telephone directly from a practitioner’s office;

(3) Evaluate patient profiles relative to prospective drug review according to Ph 706.02;

(4) Communicate, orally or in writing, any medical, therapeutic, clinical, or drug information, or any information recorded on a patient profile that requires professional judgment or otherwise perform patient counceling as required in Ph 706.

(e) The pharmacist shall verify and confirm the correctness, exactness, accuracy and completeness of the acts, tasks, and functions undertaken by the pharmacy technician who assists the pharmacist in the practice of pharmacy.

The data contained in this 2012 Annual Scorecard are accurate as of December 2012 .  Because statutes and regulations are continually revised, the data are subject to change.  These data have been verified with the state board of pharmacy.  This scorecard is updated on an annual basis in order to incorporate statutory and regulatory changes.  A new scorecard will be issued in July 2013.

Scoring rationale for Education and Training:
In order to protect the public and help ensure patient safety, it is important that pharmacy technicians are properly educated and trained.  The most rigorous training is accredited training.  The sole entity empowered to accredit pharmacy-technician training programs is the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP).  Please note that this is “programmatic accreditation” – not “institutional accreditation.”  It is the content of the training program – as measured against established standards – that is being evaluated and accredited.  Accredited training is vital to protecting patient safety because it means that a pharmacy-technician training program has met established quality standards to provide assurance and confidence to the public.  For more information, please see http://www.ashp.org/menu/Accreditation/TechnicianAccreditation.aspx.

Scoring rationale for Certification:
Certification is the process by which a nongovernmental agency or association grants recognition to an individual who has met certain predetermined qualifications specified by that agency or association.  This is often determined by an examination process.  Numerous organizations have recommended that the certification exam conducted by the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) should be recognized as the sole, nationally-accredited certification exam for pharmacy technician certification – including the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), the Texas State Board of Pharmacy (TSBP), and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In a recent report, NABP recommended that states be encouraged to “recognize certification by the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB).” Moreover, NABP performed a psychometric audit of the PTCB’s pharmacy technician certification examination (PTCE) in 2001 and determined that the PTCE is psychometrically sound, defensible, and valid. In May 2010, the TSBP awarded the PTCB with the Pharmacy Technician Certification Provider contract in Texas. PTCB was selected for the contract after a rigorous bidding and evaluation process that included formal reviews and evaluations from three independent psychometricians. TSBP confidently recognizes PTCB as the single provider of certification examinations for pharmacy technicians. In addition, in June 2010, the VA began requiring PTCB certification for VA pharmacy technicians employed at grade GS-6 and above.

Scoring rationale for Registration/Licensure:
Registration/licensure is the process by which the state maintains a list of all pharmacy technicians in the state and grants permission for an individual to work as a pharmacy technician in the state based on the applicant’s completion of all pre-requisites to registration/licensure – such as required training and certification.

Scoring rationale for Continuing Education:
Continuing education enables pharmacy technicians to fulfill their professional responsibility to maintain competence and up-to-date knowledge and skills in an environment of technological advances and increasingly complex, new medications and therapies.