DrugTopics has Suggestions for State Boards, Praises Remote Chemo Prep

The newest issue (Feb 15th) of DrugTopics has two articles about telepharmacy. The first is by Ned Milenkovich, PharmD, JD. He has some suggestions for the state boards who haven't written telepharmacy rules yet: Get with it, and do look to other states. Excerpt from Page 2:

Many state pharmacy laws and regulations are devoid of language regulating this area. Telepharmacy is still a novelty, and there is a lag in implementation of new laws after professional and technological innovations are deployed.

Moreover, in the few states where telepharmacy laws exist, there is a lack of uniformity among the various states' measures. Implementation of comprehensive and uniform state laws and regulations would provide a more certain medium for telepharmacy for the marketplace and patient population.

With regard to state laws and regulations in the telepharmacy arena, establishing requirements that any technology used must be able to electronically link drug product at the remote site back to the original packaging from the drug manufacturer would ensure patient safety and offer a de minimus chance of medication dispensing error. By electronically sending the drug product's bar-code information from the remote site back for comparison with the manufacturer's bar code, the electronic indicia of the drug can be confirmed without human intervention.

Similarly, laws and regulations should require that captured images of the drug product and prescription that are labeled and dispensed at the remote site must be retrievable and reviewable by the pharmacy and pharmacist at all times.

Finally, telepharmacy laws and regulations should provide for proper counseling by means of video technology that enables pharmacist and patient to interact directly.

The second article is by Fred Gebhart, called "Technicians key to telepharmacy success in North Dakota" and it praises technicians' roles in telepharmacy. The article's section that might be new to my readership also comes on the second page:

Techs prepare chemotherapy and other IV medications in a typical sterile facility; the supervising is pharmacist linked electronically.

"Even if the pharmacist is sitting in the next room, telepharmacy can give you a higher level of oversight than you have with a traditional sterile-prep situation," he said. "Telepharmacy gives you clear, visual records of drugs, bar codes, syringes — every step of the preparation process."