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| Helping pharmacy & health communities improve access to Emergency Contraception (EC) |
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EC PHARMACY UPDATEWith the FDA's allowance of Plan B to be sold over-the-counter without a prescription to women 18 and older, Colorado Senator Betty Boyd (D) and Representative Anne McGihon (D) sponsored SB 60 during the 2007 legislative session to ensure sexual assault survivors receive information about the availability and use of EC. The bill was amended to require pharmacies that don't stock Plan B to notify customers that it is unavailable. The bill was signed into law by Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. on Mar. 15, 2007. In previous legislative sessions, bills had been introduced to: allow pharmacies to dispense EC without a prescription (2006: HB 1212, vetoed by former Governor Owens); or to require emergency rooms to notify sex assault survivors of the availability and use of EC and to prescribe EC or for prescription (2005: HB 1042, vetoed by former Governor Owens; 2004: 1175, killed in committee; 2003: 1252, killed in committee). Colorado pharmacists are not currently participating in any EC programs that provide service to the community. NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado has researched access to and awareness of EC through health care providers and pharmacies. NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado surveyed hundreds of pharmacies in summer 2006 to create “The Emergency Contraception (EC) Resource Guide for Colorado,” a bilingual resource that features over 300 health care providers and pharmacies across the state that prescribe or fill prescriptions for EC. As part of its EC Education and Awareness Campaign, NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado held over 40 information sessions for about 900 attendees around EC and has distributed over 7,000 health care provider and pharmacy referral guides. For more information on their EC efforts and to receive fee copies of any of their publications, please go to www.prochoicecolorado.org. For press coverage in this state, click here.
CONTACTSVal Kalnins, R.Ph. Karen Forest, RN Laura B. Hansen, Pharm.D., FCCP, BCPS Toni Panetta Lenox Powell
USEFUL LINKSColorado Board of Pharmacy Colorado Pharmacists Society Colorado General Assembly Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado
PROTOCOL ENVIRONMENTPossible Environment: Revision to Existing Authority Required This state permits collaborative practice agreements or a similar agreement between physicians and pharmacists. However, some modification of existing statutes and/or regulations is required to allow pharmacists to initiate EC for the general community. Pharmacist initiation of EC would require:
PHARMACY PRACTICE ACTPharmacy Practice Act Regulatory and Statutory Authority Note: The text presented below has been prepared by the American Pharmacists Association for the Pharmacy Access Partnership and reflects legislation or regulation promulgated as of June 15, 2003. COLORADO Colorado has no statutory or regulatory authority under which pharmacists may enter into collaborative drug therapy agreements, and the law explicitly excludes “prescriptive authority” from the definition of pharmaceutical care. “Qualified” pharmacists in any setting, however, may “administer” medications pursuant to a patient-specific order from a physician if the drug is for an outpatient, or pursuant to a “chart order” if it is for an in-patient in a hospital. There is no limit on the route of administration, nor any limitation on the eligible products that may be administered. The Board of Pharmacy reports that pharmacists are using this existing authority to administer immunizations. There are no specific requirements to report administration activity to the Board, nor does the statute define what determines if a pharmacist is “qualified” to administer medications, though prudence would suggest that a pharmacist have training in delivering injections prior to their administration. Statutory authority: CO PracAct 12-22-102. Regulatory authority: None applicable.
COLORADO STATUTE CO PracAct 12-22-102. As used in this part 1, unless the context otherwise requires: (1) “Administration” means the giving of medication to a patient by a pharmacist qualified to administer drugs by authorization of a physician. *** (11)(a) “Drug” means:
(b) “Drug” does not include devices or their components, parts, or accessories. *** (22.5) “Order” means:
*** (23.6) “Pharmaceutical care” means the provision of drug therapy and other pharmaceutical patient care services by a pharmacist intended to achieve outcomes related to the cure or prevention of a disease, elimination or reduction of a patient's symptoms, or arresting or slowing of a disease process. In addition to the preparation, dispensing, and distribution of medications, “pharmaceutical care” may include assessment and evaluation of the patient's medication related needs and development and communication of a therapeutic plan with defined outcomes in consultation with the patient and the patient's other health care professionals to attain the desired outcome. This function includes efforts to prevent, detect, and resolve medication related problems for individual patients. “Pharmaceutical care” does not include prescriptive authority. *** (26) “Practice of pharmacy” means:
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