Medical and Pharmacy Boards Approve Expanded
Authority Protocols
Today, the Medical Board of California concurred with decisions by the Board of Pharmacy earlier this week to approve three statewide protocols that expand pharmacists' authority to provide primary care services. Regulators from both boards voted unanimously to approve protocols that allow pharmacists the authority to furnish hormonal contraception, nicotine replacement therapy, and naloxone hydrochloride.
The approvals come approximately one year after both Boards began work on crafting regulations to implement the landmark CPhA-sponsored legislation, SB 493, which recognized pharmacists as health care providers and authorized additional duties within the pharmacists' scope of practice.
The naloxone hydrochloride protocol will take effect as soon as the Board of Pharmacy files the regulations that have already been drafted and will apply to all pharmacists who follow the protocol. The hormonal contraception and nicotine replacement therapy protocols will take effect after regulations are drafted and filed, which will be completed later this year.
CPhA will alert members when both of these processes are complete, stay tuned for more information.
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