Bill description: HB 316 would repeal overburdensome regulations relating to pharmacists, and remove the morality requirement to become a licensed pharmacist.
Rating: +2
Does it increase barriers to entry into the market? Examples include occupational licensure, the minimum wage, and restrictions on home businesses. Conversely, does it remove barriers to entry into the market?
HB 316 amends Idaho law relating to controlled substances to expand the number of instances for which registered manufacturers, prescribers, administrators, dispensers, or distributors of a controlled substance can have their registration revoked. Under current law, a controlled substance registration can be revoked by the Idaho State Board of Pharmacy if the “state licensing board with authority over a registrant's professional license takes an action against the registrant in any fashion which suspends, restricts, limits or affects the registrant's ability to manufacture, distribute, prescribe, administer, dispense, or conduct research with any controlled substance.”
In other words, the Idaho State Board of Pharmacy currently uses the decision of state professional licensing boards to judge whether to revoke a controlled substance registration, rather than make that decision on its own. This bill would further remove the decision from the state board of pharmacy by also allowing it to revoke a registration based on the decision of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. The board would, on the judgement of a federal agency, revoke a registration, with no hearing offered to the registered individual.
(-1)
HB 316 removes undefined “good moral character and temperate habits” from the list of requirements to become a licensed pharmacist.
(+1)
Does it give government any new, additional, or expanded power to prohibit, restrict, or regulate activities in the free market? Conversely, does it eliminate or reduce government intervention in the market?
HB 316 removes certain drugs and associated regulations from the definition of the practice of pharmacy. This includes making changes to the administration of epinephrine auto-injectors by removing the requirement of “biennial anaphylaxis training.” It also repeals the requirement that pharmacists go through a course on tobacco cessation therapy before prescribing a tobacco cessation product. It also stops forced referrals of patients trying to quit tobacco to outside resources, like the Idaho Quitline. Additionally, HB 316 repeals the requirements pharmacists must meet before screening for tuberculosis, such as completing a course on administering and reading a tuberculosis test.
(+1)
HB 316 also repeals a current section of code that lists requirements that must be met if a prescribing physician wishes to authorize a pharmacist to substitute a drug prescribed to a patient with a similar, cheaper one. This repeal reduces the regulatory burden on both physicians and pharmaceutical professionals who are trying to help their patients save money.
(+1)
