South Carolina 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

South Carolina Law

I. Laws

SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS
http://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t40c043.php

SECTION 40-43-30. Definitions.
(42) “Pharmacy technician” means an individual other than an intern or extern, who assists in preparing, compounding, and dispensing medicines under the personal supervision of a licensed pharmacist and who is required to register as a pharmacy technician.
54) “Certified pharmacy technician” means an individual who is a registered pharmacy technician and who has completed the requirements provided for in Section 40-43-82(B).

SECTION 40-43-60
(D) The board shall: 

(1) regulate the practice of pharmacy; 

(2) regulate the sale and dispensing of drugs, poisons, and devices; 

(3) regulate the supervision and training of pharmacy interns and technicians in pharmacies

SECTION 40-43-82. Pharmacy technicians; registration; approval of training programs; minimum requirements; pharmacists previously disciplined not eligible to be technicians; volunteers at free medical clinics.

(A)(1) The Board of Pharmacy shall register pharmacy technicians who are performing pharmacy functions under the supervision of a pharmacist.

(2) A registration is valid from July one through June thirtieth and is renewable on dates as prescribed by the department with the consent of the board. An application for renewal must be on a board approved form provided by the department and must be submitted and accompanied by an annual fee in an amount established in accordance with Section 40-1-50. A pharmacy technician who has failed to properly renew a registration before July first shall immediately cease practice and refrain from performing any duties as a pharmacy technician. Reinstatement of a registration must be granted upon the board receiving a renewal application and renewal and penalty fees.
(3) A pharmacy technician shall display his or her current registration in a conspicuous place in the primary pharmacy or drug outlet in which the technician is employed, so that the current registration is easily and readily observable by the public. A technician working in a pharmacy or drug outlet where the technician’s registration is not posted must have his or her wallet registration card with him or her.
(B)(1) An individual may be certified by the board as a pharmacy technician if the individual has: 



(a) worked for fifteen hundred hours under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist as a registered pharmacy technician or has completed a Board of Pharmacy approved pharmacy technician course as provided for in subsection (D); however, beginning July 1, 2004, to be certified as a pharmacy technician an individual must have worked for one thousand hours under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist as a technician and must have completed a Board of Pharmacy approved technician course as provided for in subsection (D);
(b) a high school diploma or equivalent; and
(c) passed the National Pharmacy Technician Certification Board exam or a Board of Pharmacy approved exam and has maintained current certification; and
(d) fulfilled continuing education requirements as provided for in Section 40-43-130(G). 



(2) The pharmacist-in-charge shall verify compliance with the requirements of item (a) of subsection (B)(1) and maintained a record of this requirement in a readily retrievable manner for inspection.
(C) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, a supervising pharmacist may authorize a certified pharmacy technician to:
(1) receive and initiate verbal telephone orders;
(2) conduct one time prescription transfers;
(3) check a technician’s refill of medications if the medication is to be administered by a licensed health care professional in an institutional setting;
(4) check a technician’s repackaging of medications from bulk to unit dose in an institutional setting.


(D) A formal academic pharmacy technician training program that leads to a certificate, diploma, or higher degree may be approved by the board if it includes at a minimum:
(1) introduction to pharmacy and health care systems;
(2) pharmacy law and ethics;
(3) pharmacy calculations;
(4) pharmacology; 

(a) anatomy and physiology; 

(b) therapeutic agents; 

(c) prescription drugs; 

(d) nonprescription drugs;
(5) pharmacy operations; 

(a) drug distribution systems; 

(b) records management and inventory control; 

(c) ambulatory and institutional practice;
(6) compounding; 

(a) aseptic technique; 

(b) nonsterile compounding;
(7) general education; 

(a) medical terminology; 

(b) interpersonal relations; 

(c) communications; 

(d) computers/keyboarding;
(8) problem solving/critical thinking;
(9) experiential training (practical experience).

(E) A pharmacist whose license has been denied, revoked, suspended, or restricted for disciplinary purposes is not eligible to be registered as a pharmacy technician. 

(F) Notwithstanding the requirements of this section or any other provision of law or regulation, an individual who works as an unpaid volunteer under the personal supervision of a licensed pharmacist or who handles legend drugs in a pharmacy department of a free medical clinic staffed by a licensed pharmacist may be registered as a pharmacy technician and may perform pharmacy functions as a pharmacy technician without payment of a registration fee or filing with the board; provided, that a register is maintained in the pharmacy department of the free medical clinic bearing the name of every such volunteer performing pharmacy functions as a pharmacy technician and documenting each volunteer’s period of service. This special registration is valid only in the free medical clinic. The register must be kept for a period of three years. For the purposes of this section, “free medical clinic” means a permitted facility that provides medical services, including the dispensing of legend drugs and other medications, free of any charge to members of the public. 

HISTORY: 1998 Act No. 366, Section 1; 2000 Act No. 297, Section 1; 2002 Act No. 314, Section 4.

SECTION 40-43-130. Continuing education; topics; hours; carry over of hours; exemption period following examination; certificate of completion; authority to grant exemption for postgraduate degree work.

(G)(1) As a condition of registration renewal, a registered pharmacy technician shall complete ten hours of American Council on Pharmaceutical Education or CME I approved continuing education each year, beginning with the next renewal period after June 30, 2003. A minimum of four hours of the total hours must be obtained through attendance at lectures, seminars, or workshops.
(2) Topics and formats of study for continuing education must include subject matter designed to maintain the professional competence of pharmacy technicians registered with the board and to improve their professional skills in order to protect the public health and safety.
(3) Certification of completion of the required continuing education must be made on the annual registration renewal application, and no renewal may be issued without this certification. The board shall conduct an audit of continuing education credits of ten percent, randomly selected, of the total number of pharmacy technicians renewing.
(4) All hours completed in any registration year in excess of the requirements may be carried forward for credit in the next registration year but may not be carried forward for more than one registration year.

SOUTH CAROLINA BOARD OF PHARMACY POLICY AND PROCEDURES
http://www.llr.state.sc.us/pol/pharmacy/PFORMS/BOP%20Policies%20Procedures.pdf

Policy and Procedure #134
Any registered Pharmacy Technician attending accredited courses in a health-related field during the respective period of renewal may submit a transcript of such courses which would exempt them from submitting CE for the renewal requirements.
Any registered Pharmacy Technician who holds a license in a healthcare field may also be exempt from submitting CE. They should submit a copy of their current license with their renewal application.
Policy and Procedure #135
Pharmacy Technicians submitting hours of practical experience for state-certification must obtain those hours in a permitted facility under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist or in those sites that comply with the description listed in 40-43-85(G).
Policy and Procedure #140
The following duties may be performed by a registered technician after the supervising pharmacist carefully considers the individual’s abilities and/or qualifications:
• Assist RPh. in providing effective, appropriate, and safe pharmacy service
• Assist RPh. in preparing Rx
• Handling of legend drugs or devices, to include but not limited to, receiving shipments of pharmaceuticals and stocking of shelves and bins
• Accepting WRITTEN prescriptions only
• Receive verbal request from patients for available refills.
• Perform initial interpretation of licensed practitioner orders
• Select from available stock legend drugs and devices for Rx preparation
• Enter Rx information into computer, including drug allergies. *ONLY A LICENSED RPH MAY OVERRIDE Drug Utilization Review and Drug Interaction Alerts.
• Place meds in a suitable container
• Appropriately label Rx container
• Check for drug outdates
• Deliver dispensed meds to a licensed healthcare provider
• Fill and maintain unit dose carts
• Change unit dose medication cassettes
• Stock automatic dispensers
• Process medications returned for credit according to permitted facility’s policies and procedures
• Discard expired returns according to facility’s policies and procedures
• May process new Rx medications sales only after RPh provides counseling to the patient.
• Compound, or mix meds.
• Mix drugs in a dry form with water to make them an active liquid med.
• Prepare IV solutions.
• Repackage bulk medications.

The following additional duties may be performed by a certified registered technician after the supervising pharmacist carefully considers the individual’s abilities and/or qualifications: Revised at the March 2008 Board Meeting 60

• Receive and initiate verbal telephone orders.
• Conduct a one-time transfer.
• Check a technician’s refill of medications if the medication is to be administered by a licensed healthcare professional in an institutional setting.
• Check a technician’s repackaging of medications from bulk to unit dose in an institutional setting.

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.