New York Passes Pharmacy Tech Regulations into Law

I received this update via Facebook on October 26th from my friend Leigh Ann Briscoe-Dwyer, Former Vice President of Clinical Affairs at Pharmedium Services, LLC and I just had to share the news of this great win for patient safety(!)…

“Seven years ago, I had the honor of representing NY at the ASHP House of Delegates. Our delegation met with Christopher Jerry, the father of Emily Jerry who tragically died as the result of a medication error. His question on that day was: “When is NY going to do something about pharmacy technicians?” We didn’t have an answer.

Today we do.

Yesterday Governor Cuomo signed a bill recognizing pharmacy technicians, requiring certification and baseline qualifications and outlining the specific duties that technicians may perform. It’s not a perfect bill but it’s what we have.

We made a promise to Chris that day over seven years ago. Finally we can say we made good on that promise.”

This is a huge step in the right direction and I applaud the efforts of the state of New York and all of the patient and caregiver advocates that helped bring this to fruition.