In the wake of widespread criticism, the state Board of Pharmacy has relaxed proposed rules that regulate pharmacies at free clinics across the state.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - In the wake of widespread criticism, the state Board of Pharmacy has relaxed proposed rules that regulate pharmacies at free clinics across the state.
Thousands of low-income West Virginians without health insurance rely on the clinics for free prescription medications.
The pharmacy board received scores of letters and e-mails sent by doctors, patients, health-care advocates and legislators, urging the agency not to jeopardize the free prescription drug programs at the state's network of 10 free clinics.
Some clinics predicted they would be forced to eliminate their medication programs - or shut down altogether, if the pharmacy board didn't back down.
"This is a step in the right direction, but there still are some issues," said Pat White, director of West Virginia Health Right in Charleston, the largest free clinic in the state. "The overwhelming response had a significant impact on the changes the board made. They're moving in the right direction."
The pharmacy board's proposed rules required that a pharmacist or pharmacy technician be present when doctors dispense medications at free clinics. The clinics also must designate a "pharmacist in charge."
The pharmacy board's change will allow doctors, dentists, physician assistants and other state-licensed health practitioners to enter free clinic pharmacies and fill, check and dispense prescription drugs - including refills - to patients, even when a pharmacist or technician isn't present.
Pharmacy technicians also will be allowed to process and fill prescriptions for up to two hours a day without a doctor or pharmacist present. The technicians, however, still won't be permitted to dispense medications.
Also, the pharmacy board added a provision to the rules that exempts free clinic pharmacies from any state law that restricts who may receive sample medications from drug manufacturers. The clinics, which are staffed mostly by volunteers, often dispense drug samples to patients.
The Board of Pharmacy changed the proposed rules and submitted them to a state legislative committee for review last week.
"We listened to the public comments, and we tried to make changes that we feel appropriately addressed the concerns," said David Potters, the pharmacy board's director. "We wanted to work with the free clinics to allow them to continue the good and valuable service they provide."
On Tuesday, Potters released an 11-page response to the comments the board received last month.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - In the wake of widespread criticism, the state Board of Pharmacy has relaxed proposed rules that regulate pharmacies at free clinics across the state.
Thousands of low-income West Virginians without health insurance rely on the clinics for free prescription medications.
The pharmacy board received scores of letters and e-mails sent by doctors, patients, health-care advocates and legislators, urging the agency not to jeopardize the free prescription drug programs at the state's network of 10 free clinics.
Some clinics predicted they would be forced to eliminate their medication programs - or shut down altogether, if the pharmacy board didn't back down.
"This is a step in the right direction, but there still are some issues," said Pat White, director of West Virginia Health Right in Charleston, the largest free clinic in the state. "The overwhelming response had a significant impact on the changes the board made. They're moving in the right direction."
The pharmacy board's proposed rules required that a pharmacist or pharmacy technician be present when doctors dispense medications at free clinics. The clinics also must designate a "pharmacist in charge."
The pharmacy board's change will allow doctors, dentists, physician assistants and other state-licensed health practitioners to enter free clinic pharmacies and fill, check and dispense prescription drugs - including refills - to patients, even when a pharmacist or technician isn't present.
Pharmacy technicians also will be allowed to process and fill prescriptions for up to two hours a day without a doctor or pharmacist present. The technicians, however, still won't be permitted to dispense medications.
Also, the pharmacy board added a provision to the rules that exempts free clinic pharmacies from any state law that restricts who may receive sample medications from drug manufacturers. The clinics, which are staffed mostly by volunteers, often dispense drug samples to patients.
The Board of Pharmacy changed the proposed rules and submitted them to a state legislative committee for review last week.
"We listened to the public comments, and we tried to make changes that we feel appropriately addressed the concerns," said David Potters, the pharmacy board's director. "We wanted to work with the free clinics to allow them to continue the good and valuable service they provide."
On Tuesday, Potters released an 11-page response to the comments the board received last month.
He said many pharmacy board critics misinterpreted the initial proposal and made false accusations.
The regulations were designed to ensure patient safety, he said. The clinics dispense about 500,000 prescriptions each year.
The board developed the proposed rules in response to a new law that regulates clinics as "charitable pharmacies."
"Patients of every pharmacy deserve equal protection under the law," Potters said. "They deserve to have the same minimum standards in place to protect their health, safety and welfare, regardless of their ability to pay. Patients of a pharmacy located in a free clinic should receive the same minimum safety protections, the same as if they could afford the most expensive pharmaceutical care in the state."
Potters said that the pharmacy board's free clinic regulations are less restrictive than in other states.
The clinics dispense drugs for patients with asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and other illnesses. The free clinics don't stock narcotics or other highly regulated medications.
White expects the state Legislature's rule-making committee to direct the pharmacy board and free clinics to iron out other disagreements - such as how many hours "pharmacists in charge" must work under the regulations - in the coming months.
A final proposal will be presented during the upcoming Legislative session in January.
"This is truly a positive step, the first positive step they've made," White said of last week's changes. "But does this address all of our concerns? Absolutely not."
The state's free clinics are located in Wheeling, Morgantown, Parkersburg, Clarksburg, West Milford, Charles Town, Huntington, Charleston, Bluefield and Beckley, with the Beckley clinic operating a satellite location in Hinton.
Reach Eric Eyre at erice...@wvgazette.com or 348-4869.
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A pharmacist catches drug interactions, assures accuracy, maintains quality assurance and also councils a patient about how to take the medication.
There is no doubt that there is a need for free clinics but should patients receiving free medications receive inferior quality of care?
It is a time bomb waiting to happen.
The Board of Pharmacy has tried to bring the standard for dispensing medications up to the quality required by all other pharmacies but seem to have had to compromise due to " hey man , it's free give them a break.
Well, Hey man, "lets have vending machines for prescription drugs ".