The May 20, 2021, Continuing Education Rules Advisory Committee meeting agenda is now available.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.

The Oregon Health Authority issued the following:

• Temporary rule amending regulations under OAR 410-121 to revise the practitioner-managed prescription drug plan to update the preferred drug list. The rule is effective April 1, 2021, and expires June 29, 2021.
• Proposed rule amending regulations under OAR 410-121 to revise the practitioner-managed prescription drug plan to update the preferred drug list, beginning April 1, 2021. The rule currently is in effect as a temporary rule, expiring June 29, 2021. Comments are due April 21, 2021.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.

Effective March 23, the Health Authority adopted a final rule amending regulations as follows:

• Repeals Temporary 333-018-0005 from PH 3-2021 & Amends 333-018-0005: Requires reporting of out-of-state (non-Oregon) cases of COVID-19 to the jurisdictional public health authority of the patient’s residence, rather than to OHA. Housekeeping changes remove outdated reporting language.
• Amends OAR 333-018-0015: Housekeeping changes clarify in all relevant places that “intoxications” are among the illnesses to be reported and removes outdated reporting language, which is no longer applicable.
• Amends OAR 333-018-0016: Requires reporting of positive and negative COVID-19 laboratory reports of tests “waived” in accordance with the federal Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA), whether or not the tests were performed in a laboratory accredited for higher complexity testing.

Also in Oregon, Via a temporary rule effective March 24 and expiring September 19, 2021, the Board of Pharmacy amends regulations under OAR 855-041 to remove the limit of the number of epinephrine devices that may be dispensed to an entity. For COVID-19 vaccines, appropriate medical treatment for severe allergic reactions must be immediately available if an acute anaphylactic reaction occurs following administration of a COVID-19 vaccine.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.

The Oregon Legislature will convene in Special Session next week for the purpose of discussing police and justice reforms. At this time, additional issues are not anticipated to be addressed.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.

This week, Oregon joined California and Washington in a Western States Pact to coordinate the regional reopening of the economy as the COVID-19 pandemic progresses.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.

NACDS submitted a formal request to the Oregon Board of Pharmacy asking them to delay enforcement of Senate Bill 698 – Translation labelling – Until July 2022.  The Board has not developed rules for implementation, delaying members’ ability to work with IT for changes that will be needed to label prescriptions in English and the patient’s preferred language.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.

NACDS met with Joe Schnabel, Executive Director of the Oregon Board of Pharmacy to discuss upcoming rulemaking to implement legislation requiring: 1) prescription labels in English AND the patient’s native language beginning January 1, 2021; and 2) a requirement that all pharmacies provide label readers to those patients indicating they are visually impaired. 

The Board does not feel it has much flexibility with regard to the labeling issue.  In addition, NACDS’s lobbyist has met with two key Senators who have indicated the translation issue will not be considered in the 2020 Legislative Session.  NACDS members have expressed serious concerns with costs and timelines associated with implementing the translation labeling.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.