The pharmacy industry is one of the most regulated professions on both a national and state level, and pharmacists can have significant influence on legislation that impacts how they provide care to their patients.
The Kennedy Pharmacy Innovation Center supports encourages College of Pharmacy students and faculty members to be engaged members of the profession. Getting involved can mean staying aware of pharmacy-related issues and legislation, writing a letter, making a phone call, attending legislative committee meetings or joining a pharmacy association.
2021-22
This past legislative session, a bill was passed allowing South Carolina pharmacists to dispensing hormonal contraception pursuant to a state-wide protocol developed by the Board of Pharmacy and Board of Medical Examiners. Several faculty within the College of Pharmacy (Dean Julie Sease, Tessa Hastings, Gene Reeder and Patti Fabel) met with Representative Russell Ott in March 2022 to discuss the bill and its impact on access to care, particularly in rural SC. In April of 2022, Patti Fabel was able to testify at a House subcommittee hearing in support of the bill. The Boards have until the end of November to write and approve the protocol.
The need to update the SC Pharmacy Practice Act was discussed during the SCPhA All Pharmacy Conference in October of 2021. KPIC Executive Director Patti Fabel volunteered to coordinate this effort. Since then, a work group of interested stakeholders was formed and they identified areas of concern with the current pharmacy. Currently, 5 subgroups have begun drafting ideas. Those subgroups are:
- Provider Status / Scope of Practice
- PBM / 340b / Telepharmacy
- Compounding
- Workplace Safety
- Alignment with NABP Model Practice Act
Over the summer, the subgroups will identify high priority items for the upcoming legislative session in addition to recommending specific needs to be addressed during the overhaul of the practice act.