Board Meeting Minutes

Friday, December 12, 2008  -- 10:00 a.m. CST
Board oF Pharmacy Office
4305 S Louise Ave, Suite 104
Sioux Falls, SD

Members present:  President Duncan Murdy, Arlene Ham-Burr, Steve Statz, and Arvid Liebe.  Excused: Jeff Nielsen.

Staff present: Executive Secretary Ron Huether; Inspectors Earl McKinstry and Randy Jones, Senior Secretary Rene Hixon.

Others present:  Sue Schaefer, Director, SD Pharmacists Association; Brian Lounsbery and Al Carter, Walgreens; Bill Ladwig, Lewis Drugs; Eric Kutscher, SD Society of Health System Pharmacists; Gary Karel, Sanford USD Medical Center; Doug Smith, Sanford Health; Mark Mora, Wal-Mart; Ann Oberg, SD Association of Pharmacy Technicians; SETI Pharmacy Technician Students: Richelle Browne, Rachel Hendricks, Vicki Johnson, Katie Bosch, Lynsee Lanners, Stehanie Brock, Sarah Diedrich, Caytlin Welvaert, Kylie Benson, Brittany Ward, Ashley Tilborg, Megan Anderson, Kyle McInroy and Cheryl McKiernan; Deb Cummings, SETI Instructor.

The meeting was called to order by President Murdy at 10:00 a.m.

The meeting agenda was approved by the board members.

Minutes
Minutes from the September 5, 2008, meeting were reviewed. These have been posted on the Board of Pharmacy website after preliminary electronic approval of the board members. Ham-Burr moved for final approval; seconded by Statz.  Motion approved.

Reports
Financial Reports
The Board financial reports were reviewed and approved.

Activity Reports

The group discussed opportunities to promote the role of the pharmacist in assuring medication safety and compliance.  Ham-Burr moved that the Board budget $10,000 in the next fiscal year to assist SDPhA in promotional activities directed toward public safety during Pharmacists Month – October.  Seconded by Statz.  Motion Carried.

Approvals     
Ron Huether reported on requests for approval of :

Automated Mechanical Dispensing Devices – Perry King,Fall River Health Services; and Kimberly Henrich, Faulkton Area Medical Center.

Return and Credit of Unit Dose Packaged Medications – Marlin Brozik, Lewis Drug, Madison; and Barry Uecker, Heritage Pharmacy.

Off-site Storage of Prescription Drugs – Lora Van Dyke, AmeriPharm, Sioux Falls.

Variances
A variance request from Lisa Rave, Cigna Tel-Drug, Sioux Falls, for a 4:1 ratio of technicians to pharmacists was approved.  Appropriate policies and procedures were submitted to demonstrate compliance with the rule.  We will conduct a separate inspection to monitor compliance.

Huether described the internship hours completed by Gloriz Nelson, Foreign Pharmacy Graduate.  Satisfactory comments have been received from the pharmacists who supervised her experiences - Galen Goeden, Hy-Vee Pharmacy, Yankton; Mark Gerdes, Omnicare, Sioux Falls; Doug Johnson, Bon Homme Pharmacy, Tyndall; Matt Lavin, Sanford Hospital, Vermillion; and Sue Feilmeir, Avera Sacred Heart Hospital, Yankton.  In addition to these experiences, Ms. Nelson has worked several thousand hours as a Pharmacy Technician and the SD Human Services Center Pharmacy and the Yankton Clinic Pharmacy.  Prior to meeting the requirements for FPGEC Certification, Huether recommended that the Board waive the requirement of 1500 hours after obtaining the FPGEC Certificate from NABP and approve Ms. Nelson for the NAPLEX examination.  Liebe moved the hours completed be accepted as meeting our requirement.  Seconded by Statz.  Motion carried.  Huether also suggested that the Board commend the pharmacists who willingly participated in providing internship opportunities for Ms. Nelson   The Board agreed with this recommendation.           

Disciplinary Actions
Huether reported that Pharmacists Deena Leavens has completed the six months of license revocation imposed by this Board following the disciplinary action taken by the Wisconsin Board of Pharmacy.  Statz moved to approve reinstatement.  Seconded by Ham-Burr. Motion carried. Huether will send a letter Ms. Leavens advising of her of this action.

President Murdy called a lunch recess of the regular board meeting 11:45 a.m.

A telepharmacy rules hearing was held at 1:00 p.m.  (see separate minutes)           

Following completion of the  Rules Hearing the regular board meeting resumed at 1:50 p.m.  President Murdy was excused from the meeting.  Statz assumed the responsibility of presiding.

Election of Officers
Ham-Burr nominated Nielsen as president and Statz as vice-president for the upcoming year. Motion seconded by Liebe.  Motion carried.

OLD BUSINESS  
Multi-State Jurisprudence Examination
Randy Jones participated in a meeting at NABP in October.  Representatives from several state boards were there to work on updating the MPJE and to review state specific questions.  Jones described the process we must complete before we will be ready to transition to this exam.  He reviewed about 2,000 of the 10,000 questions that we must review.  We hope to finish this process by the end of 2009.

Rules Updates
Huether reported on issues that will need to be addressed with rules updates:

NEW BUSINESS:
Policy Statement on Starter Packs
Our inspectors often get questions related to the practice of providing starter packs in small hospital and clinics.  This is not covered in rule.  Huether presented a draft of a “guideline” to be offered by the Board.  Ham-Burr moved to adopt these guidelines for distribution to pharmacists.  Motion seconded by Arvid Liebe.  Motion carried.  Discussion included a recommendation to post the guidelines on the Board and SDPhA websites and publish in the SDPhA Journal.

Prescription Drug Monitoring
The SD Attorney General’s office has advised us of their intent to initiate legislation that will establish a prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) in South Dakota.  About 2/3 of the states have or will be implementing PDMPs.  After discussion the Board agreed that we should be supportive of this effort.  Liebe and Huether will attend a meeting in Sioux Falls on December 17 to learn more about this initiative.     

NABP Fall Symposium
Earl McKinstry reported on topics presented at the NABP Fall Symposium – counterfeit drugs, fraudulent internet pharmacies and the “behind the counter” class of drugs.  McKinstry, Liebe and Huether attended.

NABP Task Force on Uniform Prescription Labeling 
Huether was appointed to serve on this NABP Task Force and attended a meeting following the fall symposium. The task force is developing guidelines for uniform prescription labeling that will improve patient safety and compliance. 

OTHER BUSINESS
Meeting Dates: Discussion was held for meeting dates in 2009. The next board meeting is tentatively set for April 29, 2009.

Arvid Liebe made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Arlene Ham-Burr.  Motion carried.

Meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m.