HB 862 – Improve Access to Patient Care
Primary House Sponsors: Rep. Wayne Sasser (Cabarrus, Rowan, Stanly)
Summary
This bill makes a series of revisions to statutes governing clinical pharmacist practitioners. Specifically, this bill:
- Defines “clinical pharmacist practitioner” as a licensed pharmacist who meets all of the following requirements: (1) provides collaborative care in accordance with written collaborative practice agreement with one or more physicians; (2) has registered with the NC Board of Pharmacy Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner Registry; (3) meets and maintains the required annual professional development requirements; (4) maintains good standing with the Board of Pharmacy; and (5) practices in accordance with statutory requirements and rules established by the joint subcommittee of the NC Medical Board and the NC Board of Pharmacy.
- Defines collaborative care services as “patient care services authorized by a physician and delegated to a pharmacist for the purpose of drug therapy and disease management” and further specifies that under a collaborative practice agreement, “a supervising physician may delegate to a licensed pharmacist any patient care services that the supervising physician deems appropriate.”
- Permits clinical pharmacist practitioners to provide patient care services provided that (1) the NC Medical Board and NC Board of Pharmacy have adopted rules developed by a joint subcommittee governing the use and oversight of collaborative practice in patient care settings and that the Boards must determine to be in the best interest of patient health and safety and (2) the clinical pharmacist practitioner is registered with the NC Board of Pharmacy and maintains annual requirements.
- Requires the supervising physician to evaluate the provision of collaborative care services consistent with rules established by the Medical Board and Board of Pharmacy.
- Specifies that any drug therapy order for medications, tests, or devices written by a clinical pharmacist practitioner shall be deemed to have been authorized by the collaborating physician.
- Requires the supervising physician to conduct periodic review and evaluation of the clinical pharmacist practitioner’s prescribing patterns.
- Permits institutional and group practice to implement an institution-wide, multiprovider collaborative practice agreement for the care of patients provided the practice develops a policy for oversight and the clinical pharmacist practitioners engaged in the agreement are evaluated by an appointed supervising physician.
Movement
Filed – 5/4/2021