Physician-Governor Ralph Northam (R) signed HB 1506, a bill that was a priority in NACDS’ Scope of Business Campaign. The new law requires the development of statewide protocols for pharmacists to use to provide a wide range of services including contraceptives, epinephrine, prenatal vitamins, dietary fluoride supplements and prescription medications when the patient’s copay or cost-sharing is less than the cost of the equivalent over-the-counter drug. It also requires the Board of Pharmacy, the Board of Medicine and the Department of Health to convene a workgroup to make recommendations on further statewide protocols allowing pharmacists to administer additional vaccines, provide tobacco cessation therapy and pre-exposure and post-exposure prophylaxis for the prevention of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and perform simple CLIA-waived testing and tuberculosis testing, and over-the-counter drugs that require a prescription by the patient’s health insurance provider.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Jill McCormack at 717-592-8977.