The Colorado Legislature has passed a bill that requires pharmacy technicians to become certified in 2020. This makes Colorado the 46th state to require pharmacy technician licenses, leaving Wisconsin, Hawaii, New York, and Pennsylvania as the only states without technician regulation laws.
In order to obtain a license to practice after March 31, 2020, a technician will need to pass a Board-Approved national certification exam and pass a criminal background check,. Maintenance of that certification is required for license renewal, so you will need to get your required CE for that certification.
Under the proposed legislation, technicians will be allowed to receive written, faxed, or electronic prescriptions. Technicians will also be allowed to prepare medications, ensure adequate storage of medications, transferring orders between pharmacies (except controlled substances as regulated under federal law), and any other activity authorized by the Board of Pharmacy. Technicians may also operate a telepharmacy location.
If a technician does not have a certification by the time the new rules are enacted will need to obtain a temporary certification from the Board to continue practicing. Practicing the duties of a pharmacy technician without a license will be a misdemeanor in Colorado.
The Colorado governor has also authorized pharmacists write prescriptions for emergency supplies of maintenance medications. In order to write such a prescription the following requirements must be met:
1, The pharmacist cannot obtain a valid prescription from the prescriber in a timely manner.
2. The pharmacy already has a prescription recorded for the patient and has not dispensed an emergency supply in the previous 12 months.
3. In the pharmacists professional judgement, denying the medication may threaten the patient’s health.
4. The pharmacist generated prescription cannot exceed the previous quantity prescribed or be refilled.
5. The prescriber has not prohibited the issuance of emergency prescriptions.
This new legislation expands the authority to prescribe under a collaborative practice agreement and provider status that were passed in 2016 and 2018 respectively.
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