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The New York State Council of Health-system Pharmacists
210 Washington Avenue Extension  Albany, NY 12203
(518) 456-8819  Fax: (518) 456-9319

Pharmacy Technician Registration and Certification

Senate Bill S5584 (Griffo)/ Assembly Bill A4611B (Engelbright)

Fact Sheet

January 1st, 2018

Summary of proposed legislation:

  • Registration: Any individual employed in a pharmacy who directly assists a licensed pharmacist with preparing prescriptions or has authority to add or to modify prescription records and has access to prescription drugs shall be registered
  • In order to be registered, individuals must:
  • Have completed a high school education/general equivalency diploma (GED) or are completing high school
  • Being at least 17 years of age
  • Submit an attestation of good moral character that is satisfactory to the department
  • Note: being registered or having an application for registration is necessary for employment as a Pharmacy Technician
  • Grandparenting - If individual has worked at least 5 years as a Pharmacy Technician (and 18 consecutive months with a single employer) AND shows good cause to waive the educational requirement satisfactory to the department and board of pharmacy
  • Certification: Any such individual and is employed in an article 28 facility (e.g. hospital or nursing home with an onsite pharmacy) or compounding facility, or whoassists in the compounding of medications in any setting shall be also certified.
  • Certification requirements include above and additionally;
  • Having completed a high school education or general equivalency diploma (GED)
  • Having completed certification requirements/training through a nationally accredited independent certifying body approved by the board
  • Submitting an attestation of good moral character that is satisfactory to the department
  • Being at least 18 years of age
  • Grandparenting of certification - If individual has worked at least 5 years as a pharmacy technician (and 18 consecutive months with a single employer)
  • Students enrolled in a College of Pharmacy or pharmacy technician training program are exempt from registration and certification
  • Timeline – act shall take effect one year after it becomes law

Proposed impact on public health:

  • Reduce risk of drug diversion
  • An estimated 44 people will die of overdose from prescription painkillers every day in the U.S. These deaths have more than quadrupled in the past decade and a half. Today, more people die from prescription opioid overdose than from heroin, cocaine, and all other drugs combined, an alarming trend that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control declared an epidemic in November 2011.[i]Medication diversion within pharmacies appears to be a driving factor. Half of the thefts in pharmacies are from internal diversion
  • DEA investigators from the Buffalo office verify a high degree of controlled substance diversion attributed to pharmacy technicians, and that some “drug rings/gangs” seek member employment as pharmacy technicians to increase access to prescription opiates.
  • Increase in medication safety
  • According to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, medication errors harm 15 million patients in US hospitals each year[ii]
  • Medication errors cost the healthcare system $17 billion annually[iii]
  • Technician certification associated with higher pharmacy math and compounding skills[iv]
  • Allowing pharmacists to spend more time on patient care services
  • A survey of over 600 pharmacists in various settings revealed that at least 83% of respondents agreed that working with certified technicians allows them to spend more time on patient care services such as patient education.iv
  • Comparison to other states:
  • At present, 45 states regulate pharmacy technicians. Only five states, including New York, do not regulate pharmacy technicians.
  • Progress with securing benefits of pharmacy technician certification spans decades, with Michigan and Illinois creating programs in the 1980’s.
  • New York State has received an “F” on The Emily Jerry Foundation pharmacy technician regulation scorecard because of a lack of education, training, certification, registration, and continuing education requirement of pharmacy technicians

Support:

●Strongly supported by the New York State Council of Health-system Pharmacists (NYSCHP), the Pharmacists Society of the State of New York (PSSNY), and by the New York State Chapter of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (NY ASCP Chapter)

●Supported by the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) and we anticipate that other professional and provider organizations will join in supporting the bill

●Supported by 1199 SEIU (United Healthcare Workers East)

[i] DuPont S, Bezaitis A, Ross M. Stemming the tide of prescription opioid overuse, misue, and abuse. Health Affairs Blog 2015. Available at Accessed March 30, 2016

[ii] Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Accessed March 30, 16

[iii] Van Den Bos J, Rustagi K, Gray T, et al. The $17.1 billion problem: the annual cost of measurable medical errors. Health Aff (Mill- wood). 2011;30(4):596-603.

[iv] Desselle S, Schmitt M. Pharmacists’ perceptions of the value of technician certification through a nationally accredited certification program. J Pharm Technol 2010;26:340-51.

The New York State Council of Health-system Pharmacists
210 Washington Avenue Extension  Albany, NY 12203
(518) 456-8819  Fax: (518) 456-9319

Pharmacy Technician Registration and Certification

Senate Bill S5584/ Assembly Bill A4611B

Frequently Asked Questions:

The first rule of questions is: if you don’t feel 100% comfortable answering it for any reason, say you are not certain and will look into the matter and get back to the legislator. You can always reach out to the Vice President of Public Policy for more information. The Council does not expect members to be versed in every bit of minutiae of our legislative priorities – you are going to your legislator to represent your opinions as a member of the Pharmacy profession.

If you have any questions, please reach out to:Andrew Kaplan, NYSCHP Vice President of Public Policy () or Shaun Flynn, NYSCHP Executive Director (). For reference purposes, NYSCHP’s Contract Lobbyist is Empire Strategic Planning.

  • What does this bill do?

New York State is one of only 5 states in the country that does not register, regulate or track Pharmacy Technicians. There are no minimum standards for who may be a Pharmacy Technician and no scope for what a Pharmacy Technician may do. What this bill would do is empower the State Education Department to maintain a registration for Pharmacy Technicians to ensure Pharmacies (whether Community, Chain or Hospital) can hire only Registered Technicians and to ensure the public has accountability for who is handling their medications and private health information.

  • Why is this bill important for public health?

When speaking with legislators about the issue, highlight a few key opportunities whereby this legislation would improve public health:

  1. If a Technician is fired for diversion, they can work in another Pharmacy and gain easy access to narcotics. This is one source of narcotics getting into the community, which is not acceptable. Registration may be revoked – therefore, we will have an accountability mechanism for misconduct which presently does not exist, save a criminal conviction which would be discovered on a background check. Think about
  2. Pharmacy Technicians are helpful in gathering materials for the Pharmacist to compound, prepare, dispense. With our Certification requirement, we will ensure a basic educational standard for Technicians who assist Pharmacists in sterile compounding; this will improve medication safety and reduce the risk for medication errors.
  3. Emily Jerry was a one and a half year old girl who was being treated for an abdominal tumor in Ohio; she was tragically killed because a medication was compounded incorrectly for her. Her father, Chris Jerry, has made his life’s mission to improve Pharmacy Technician education throughout the country and his foundation rates states in their regulation of Pharmacy Technicians. New York doesn’t even get an “F” – we get a ZERO – because we have no regulatory infrastructure in place at all
  4. One could also mention that Pharmacy Technicians currently handle/view patients’ private information – prescriptions, medical conditions, addresses, phone numbers, etc. Theoretically, the public would likely be more comfortable with only regulated professionals having access to this type of information
  • Who supports this bill?

The bill is supported by all the major Pharmacy Organizations in NYS (NYSCHP, PSSNY, NY-ASCP, NACDS), along with 1199, the Union which represents many Pharmacy Technicians. Highlighting 1199’s support is often helpful for the legislator to appreciate, as 1199 may contain many of the legislator’s constituents. In addition, Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) supports the legislation. The legislator may ask who has sponsored the bill – in the Assembly, it is sponsored by Steve Engelbright (D-4th District) and in the Senate by the Deputy Majority Whip Joe Griffo (R-47th District).

  • What are the obstacles to the legislation passing – is anyone opposing the bill?

No organizations are opposed to the legislation. The key impediment has been regarding how the State Education Department (SED) can optimally implement the legislation. In order to register all the Technicians in New York, SED theoretically would have to hire additional staff to create and maintain registration; however, they are not guaranteed funding to do so, as the registration fees would go into NYS’s general fund.

The Committee in the Assembly which is responsible for overseeing SED is the Higher Education Committee (High Ed) – the Chairperson of this Committee is Deborah Glick (D – 66th District). Ms. Glick has had concerns about creating scopes of practice and her office has been awaiting review from SED before the bill can be considered.

Note: if you don’t feel comfortable getting into this kind of regulatory detail, please refer the office back to the Council (Vice President of Public Policy or Executive Director) for more information.

  • If one of my constituents is a Technician – how much would Certification cost? What does it entail?

There are two accredited bodies which provide Technician Certification – the most commonly used is the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB). Their exam costs $129. Their certification period lasts two years; in order to renew certification, a Technician must accumulate 20 hours of continuing education (CE) per two year period and renew, which costs $40. Of the 20 hours of education, 1 hour must be on medication safety and 1 hour must be related to Pharmacy law. 1199 typically offers CE to its members as part of union dues. The other organization – National Healthcareer Association (NHA) – also gives a Pharmacy Technician Certification exam (ExCPT), which costs $115 and has similar CE requirements, certification period to PTCB. It is good to mention that by having continuing education, the certified Pharmacy Technicians are always honing their mathematical and medication skills, and are theoretically more competent/less likely to make an error.

  • This legislation sounds fine to me – why hasn’t New York already completed this?

Unfortunately, the public is poorly aware of the role of Pharmacy Technicians, and therefore in a state like New York where we focus on big legislative priorities, this has not had its moment in the sun, so to speak.

  • Anything else?

You can use this as an opportunity to discuss other Pharmacy legislative priorities if you feel comfortable doing so (e.g. CDTM, Immunization). Legislators may also ask if you have any concerns/feedback regarding your local community, so be prepared to speak accordingly (for example, a local construction project, educational campaign, etc).