Arkansas 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

Arkansas Law

I. Laws
17-92-301. License requirements
17-92-310. License renewal; penalty for noncompliance
17-92-604. Rules, regulations and standards

17-92-301. License requirements
(a) No person shall perform any of the acts constituting the practice of pharmacy unless the person is:
(1) A licensed pharmacist;
(2) A student or graduate of a recognized college of pharmacy serving an internship under an internship program established and regulated by the Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy;
(3) A pharmacy technician performing the limited functions permitted under this chapter and regulations promulgated hereunder; or
(4) A hospital pharmacy technician as defined in § 17-92-602 performing the limited functions permitted under that subchapter and regulations promulgated there under.

17-92-310. License renewal; penalty for noncompliance
• All retail pharmacy permits, out-of-state pharmacy permits, specialty pharmacy permits, nursing home consultant pharmacist permits, and pharmacist licenses shall expire on December 31 of the first odd-numbered year following the date of issuance.

(B) All preceptor permits shall expire on December 31 of the first odd-numbered year following the date of issuance.

(b) (C)(i)(a) Intern licenses issued to foreign graduates shall expire on December 31 of the second calendar year following the date of issuance.

(c) However, an intern license issued to a foreign graduate shall expire when the intern is issued a pharmacist license.

(d) (ii)(a) An intern license issued to a student intern shall remain valid as long as the intern maintains active student status in a college of pharmacy approved by the Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy and for six (6) months following graduation.

(e) An intern license issued to a student intern shall expire six (6) months following graduation.

(f) An intern license issued to a student intern may be reinstated if the intern resumes active student status in a board-approved college of pharmacy and applies for reinstatement.

(g) An intern license issued to a student intern shall expire when the intern is issued a pharmacist license.
(A) All pharmacy technician permits, hospital pharmacy permits, ambulatory care center pharmaceutical services permits, wholesale distributors of legend or controlled substance permits, wholesale distributors of medical equipment, legend devices, and medical gases permits, institutional pharmaceutical services permits, List I chemical permits, and any other permit, license, registration, or certificate issued by the board and not covered in subdivisions (a)
(1)(A)-(C) of this section shall expire on December 31 of the first even-numbered year following the date of the issuance of the permit, license, registration, or certificate.

(2) Every license, permit, registration, and certificate not renewed within ninety (90) days after expiration thereof shall be void.

(h) The penalty for late payment of renewal for pharmacists, pharmacies, wholesaler/manufacturer of legend drugs and controlled substances, hospital, institutional, and nursing home consultant permits shall be as listed in § 17-92-108, and if renewal remains unpaid on April 1 of any year, the license shall be void.

(i) If a pharmacist’s license is not renewed by April 1, the fee for reinstatement shall be as stated in § 17-92-108.

(j) If a pharmacist’s license has not been renewed for more than two (2) years, the board shall evaluate the former pharmacist to determine his or her continued ability to practice pharmacy safely with regard to the public health and safety, and the board shall establish conditions for the safe reentry into practice of the profession.

17-92-604. Rules, regulations and standards
(a) The Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy shall adopt, promulgate, and enforce such rules, regulations, and standards as may be necessary to the regulation of the operation of a hospital pharmacy and for the accomplishment of all other purposes of this subchapter.
(b)
(1) The Advisory Committee for Hospital Pharmacies shall advise with the board concerning the rules, regulations, and standards to be promulgated by the board under this subchapter. No rule, regulation, or standard shall be promulgated by the board until it has consulted with the committee.

(2) The rules, regulations, and standards shall include, but shall not be limited to, the following specificmatters:

(A) The number of licensed pharmacists and other hospital pharmacy technicians and the scope of duties to be performed by the hospital pharmacy technicians in the inpatient medication distribution system, in keeping with the size and scope of the services of the hospital and its hospital pharmacy and the hospital pharmacy’s safe, efficient, and economical operation; and

(B) The equipment and supplies necessary to the hospital pharmacy’s safe, efficient, and economical operation.

(c) After consultation with the committee, from time to time, the board may modify, amend, or rescind the rules, regulations, and standards, provided the modification, amendment, or rescission does not in any manner defeat the purposes of this subchapter.

II. Regulations
03-00-0002—REGISTRATION REQUIRED
03-00-0003—A PHARMACY TECHNICIAN SHALL
03-00-0004—QUALIFICATIONS
03-00-0005—TASKS, RESPONSIBILITIES, AND DUTIES OF THE PHARMACY TECHNICIAN
03-00-0006—DUTIES OF THE PHARMACIST IN THE USE OF PHARMACY TECHNICIANS

REGULATION 3 —PHARMACY TECHNICIANS
03-00—PHARMACY TECHNICIANS—REGISTRATION/PERMIT REQUIRED
03-00-0002—REGISTRATION REQUIRED
(a) A pharmacy technician shall register with the Board of Pharmacy on a form provided by the Board and undergo a criminal background check pursuant to Board Regulation 11;

(b) The registration shall expire on December 31 biennially as provided in Board Regulation 01- 00-0007

(c) The registration fee for a pharmacy technician shall be defined in regulation 01-00-0007.

(d) No person shall work as a pharmacy technician prior to the Board issuing a certificate of registration and a permit for the specific location at which the technician will work. The permit shall be prominently displayed for public perusal in said pharmacy. The pharmacist-in-charge shall determine that the person is registered as a pharmacy technician and that the Board has issued a permit for the specific location before the technician performs any tasks identified in regulation 03-00-0005 or 03-00-0006.

(e) If there is a change of mailing address for the pharmacy technician, the pharmacy technician shall immediately notify the Board of Pharmacy, in writing, of the new address.

(f) When a pharmacy technician leaves the employment of a pharmacy, the pharmacist in charge shall notify the Board, in writing, within fourteen (14) days.

(g) Any concurrent or subsequent employment at any pharmacy shall be reported to the Board of Pharmacy by both the pharmacy technician and the pharmacist in charge of the pharmacy where the pharmacy technician will be working. The pharmacist in charge must notify the Board of Pharmacy, in writing, of the exact date when the pharmacy technician will begin working. The pharmacy technician shall not work at that location until the Board of Pharmacy has received said notification.

(h) A pharmacy technician shall identify himself/herself as such in any telephone conversation regarding the functions of a pharmacy technician while on duty in the pharmacy.

(i) If the pharmacy technician is suspected to have, or evidence exists that a pharmacy technician may have violated any law or regulation regarding the practice of pharmacy, legend drugs or controlled substances, the pharmacist in charge shall notify the Board, in writing, within ten days or immediately if any danger to the public health or safety may exist. Any other pharmacist, whether or not practicing in the same pharmacy, who has such knowledge or suspicion, shall notify the Board in a like manner.

(j)
(1) The Board may, after notice and hearing, suspend or revoke the permit of a pharmacy technician upon a finding of the following:

(A) Violation of this regulation. Rev. 11/2003 3-2
(B) Violation of any law or regulation regarding the practice of pharmacy.
(C) Violation of any law or regulation related to legend drugs or controlled substances.

(2) The Board shall follow the same procedures for hearings for pharmacy technicians as applicable to hearings for pharmacists as set forth in §17-92-101 et seq. and Board regulations. (Revised 11/15/2003)

03-00-0003—A PHARMACY TECHNICIAN SHALL
(a) Conduct himself/herself professionally in conformity with all applicable federal, state, and municipal laws and regulations in his relationship with the public, health care professions, and pharmacists.

(b) Hold to the strictest confidences all knowledge concerning patrons, their prescriptions, and other confidence entrusted or acquired by him/her; divulging in the interest of the patron, only by proper release forms, or where required for proper compliance with legal authority.

(c) Provide valid and sufficient checks in payment for licenses or renewals.

03-00-0004—QUALIFICATIONS

(a) A high school graduate or a recognized graduate equivalency degree (G.E.D.).
(b) Of good moral character and temperate habits.
(c) The applicant must complete a criminal background check pursuant to Board regulation 11. If the pharmacy technician has a past record of alcohol or drug addiction or past record of violation of any law related to controlled substances, registration must be prior approved by the Board of Pharmacy. (Revised 11/15/2003)

03-00-0005—TASKS, RESPONSIBILITIES, AND DUTIES OF THE PHARMACY TECHNICIAN
(a) A pharmacy technician may assist the pharmacist in performing the following specific tasks in accordance with specific written policy and procedures established by the pharmacist-in charge covering the areas described in this section. The supervising pharmacist is responsible for all tasks performed by the pharmacy technician. All tasks performed by the pharmacy technician must be supervised, checked, and approved by the supervising pharmacist. If the pharmacy technician performs any other task that is defined as the practice of pharmacy, it will be considered a violation.

(b) Approved tasks:
(1) Placing, packing, pouring, or putting in a container for dispensing, sale, distribution, transfer possession of, vending, or barter any drug, medicine, poison, or chemical which, under the laws of the United States or the State of Arkansas, may be sold or dispensed only on the prescription of a practitioner authorized by law to prescribe drugs, medicines, poisons, or chemicals. This shall also include the adding of water for reconstitution of oral antibiotic liquids.

(2) Placing in or affixing upon any container described in this regulation, a label required to be placed upon drugs, medicines, poisons, or chemicals sold or dispensed upon prescription of a practitioner authorized by law to prescribe those drugs, medicines, poisons, or chemicals.

(3) Selecting, taking from, and replacing upon shelves in the prescription department of a pharmacy or apothecary drugs, medicines, chemicals, or poisons which are required by Rev. 11/2003 3-3 the law of the United States or the State of Arkansas to be sold or dispensed only on prescription of a practitioner authorized by law to prescribe them.

(4)
(A) In a manual system — preparing, typing, or writing labels to be placed or affixed on any container described in §17-92-101 on which a label is required to be placed upon drugs, medicines, poisons, or chemicals sold or dispensed upon prescription of a practitioner authorized by law to prescribe those drugs, medicines, poisons, or chemicals.

(B) In a computer system — a pharmacy technician may enter information into the pharmacy computer. The pharmacy technician shall not make any judgment decisions that could affect patient care. The final verification of prescription-information, entered into the computer shall be made by the supervising pharmacist– prior to dispensing – who is then totally responsible for all aspects of the data and data entry.

(5) A pharmacy technician may obtain prescriber authorization for prescription refills provided that nothing about the prescription is changed; a pharmacy technician shall not receive prescriber authorization for a new prescription by telephone or by other verbal communication.

(6) Prepackaging and labeling of multi-dose and unit-dose packages of medication. The pharmacist must establish the procedures, including selection of containers, labels and lot numbers, and must check the finished task.

(7) Dose-picking for unit dose cart fill for a hospital or for a nursing home patient.

(8) Nursing unit checks in a hospital or nursing home. Pharmacy technicians may check nursing units for proper medication storage and other related floor stock medication issues. Any related medication storage problems or concerns shall be documented and initialed by a pharmacist.

(9) Patient and medication records. The recording of patient or medication information in manual or electronic system for later validation by the pharmacist may be performed by pharmacy technicians.

(10) The pharmacy technician shall not make any judgment decisions that could affect patient care.
(c)

(1) A pharmacy technician may assist in the following tasks when the pharmacist-in-charge has established a specific written policy and procedure for reconstitution of prefabricated non-injectable medication, bulk compounding, and/or preparation of parenteral products that establishes the order of addition of ingredients, the point at which the ingredients will be checked by the pharmacist, and the point at which the final product will be checked for integrity, correctness, and pharmaceutical elegance.

(2)
(A) Prior to any of these tasks being carried out by a pharmacy technician:
(i) the technician shall successfully complete an initial training, assessment of skills program, and test pursuant to a written training and assessment procedure established by the pharmacist-in-charge as provided in Regulation 03-00-0006; and

(ii) the pharmacist supervising a technician who engages in the above-referenced reconstitution, bulk compounding, and/or preparation of parental product shall Rev. 11/2003 3-4 perform all calculations of ingredients and provide written directions for measurement of ingredients by the technician;

(B) Prior to dispensing any of said products for administration, the supervising pharmacist shall verify and approve in written form all ingredients as well as the final product.

(d)

(1) Bulk reconstitution of prefabricated non-injectable medication may include addition of multiple additives.

(2) Bulk compounding may include such items as sterile bulk solutions for small-volume injectables, sterile irrigating solutions, products prepared in relatively large volume for internal or external use by patients, and reagents or other products for the pharmacy or other departments of the facility.

(3) Preparation of parenteral products.

(A) Pharmacy technicians may:

(i) reconstitute and withdraw any amount (i.e. partial or entire amount) of an injectable medication to be administered to a patient; and

(ii) reconstitute, withdraw, and add any amount (i.e. partial or entire amount) of one or more injectable products to an IV solution to be administered to a patient. (Revised 10/12/99, 11/152003)

03-00-0006—DUTIES OF THE PHARMACIST IN THE USE OF PHARMACY TECHNICIANS
(a) A pharmacist-in-charge who utilizes a pharmacy technician to enter information into the pharmacy computer must develop and keep on file at the pharmacy, written policies and procedures which describe the process by which the supervising pharmacist verifies the accuracy, validity, and appropriateness of the filled prescription or medication order.

(b)
(1) A pharmacist-in-charge who utilizes a pharmacy technician for (1) bulk reconstitution of prefabricated non-injectable medication, (2) bulk compounding, and/or (3) preparation of parental products shall develop written policies and procedures for training, testing, and competency assessment of any pharmacy technicians performing these tasks.

(2) These policies and procedures shall incorporate those standards developed in the American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists (ASHP) Guidelines on Quality Assurance for Pharmacy-Prepared Sterile Products (Copyright 2002) or a Board approved equivalent.

(c) The pharmacist-in-charge shall include, in the policy and procedure manual, the specific scope of responsibilities for pharmacy technicians or procedures delegated to pharmacy technicians.

(d) In each instance in which a pharmacy technician prepares or processes any medication identified in Regulation 03-00-0005, the supervising pharmacist

(1) Shall supervise the technician participating in those tasks as provided in Regulation 03-00-0001 (b);

(2) Shall personally determine all medication dose calculations and drug compatibilities, maintain proper storage conditions, and verify the proper labeling of all finished products, to include: Rev. 11/2003 3-5

(A) For bulk products, the product name, name and strength of each drug, the name and volume of each vehicle, the preparation and expiration dates, and lot or equivalent numbers; and

(B) For individual products, the information required by law for individual prescriptions;

(3) Determine all medication dose calculations, drug compatibilities, maintain proper storage conditions, and verify the proper labeling of all finished products including appropriate expiration dates; and

(4) Shall record in written form his or her verification of the amount of each ingredient by volume, weight, or measure and of the final product by lot or equivalent number.

(e) The supervising pharmacist shall ensure that the pharmacy technician maintains confidentiality of all patient records.

(f) The pharmacist-in-charge shall maintain records of each drug product resulting from the procedures identified in paragraph (b) above for a period of two years and make said records available for inspection by the Board to include:

(1) A copy of all individual training, testing, and competency assessments;
(2) The record of verification of ingredients and final drug product described in paragraph (d) (4) above; and
(3) Policies and procedures applicable to producing said drug products.
(Revised 11/15/2003)

References
Pharmacy Practice Act
http://pharmacyboard.arkansas.gov/licenseeInfo/Documents/lawBook/pharmacyPracticeAct.pdf
Regulation 3
http://pharmacyboard.arkansas.gov/licenseeInfo/Documents/lawBook/regulation03Nov03.pdf

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.