Board Highlights - September 16, 2016

Framework for Patient-Practitioner Relationship Program

The College Board accepted the recommendation made by the BC Health Regulators regarding the adoption of the Framework for a Patient-Practitioner Relationship Program. The Framework sets out principles, definitions and key program elements intended to help patients and practitioners understand the need for boundaries. The Framework also acknowledges the need for the College to establish guidance for registrants who work in small, rural or remote communities and those who find themselves in emergency circumstances.

Now that the Framework for Patient-Practitioner Relationship Program has been endorsed by the College Board, the Ethics Advisory Committee will be asked to develop the specific program for consideration by the Board.

Amendments to the Community Pharmacy Standards of Practice Approved 

The Board approved amendments to the Health Professions Act (HPA) bylaws Schedule F – Standards of Practice, Part 1- Community Pharmacy for filing with the Ministry of Health.

The amendments focused on two priority areas: 

• Pharmacist review of patient profile on PharmaNet prior to dispensing
• Pharmacist/patient consultation (counselling) 

The amended standards were approved for public posting by the Board in February 2015. The College received many comments on the proposed amendments and revised them to address the issues brought through the feedback. The College would like to thank everyone who contributed feedback to help inform these amendments.

The College Board approved the amendments to the HPA bylaws Schedule F – Standards of Practice, Part 1- Community Pharmacy for filing with the Ministry of Health with a shortened filing period, in which the amendments come into force by September 23, 2016.

Pharmacy Security Bylaws Approved for a Second Public Posting

The College Board approved the revised proposed Pharmacy Operations and Drug Scheduling Act bylaws for a second public posting period.

The Pharmacy Security Bylaws were previously posted for public comment in April, 2016, and the feedback received was used to revise the proposed requirements. The newly revised proposed Pharmacy Security Bylaws include minor revisions such as adding the definition of a “support person” from PODSA with an exception for pharmacy technicians, as well as the following significant changes:

• Registrants must notify the Registrar of any incident of loss of narcotic and controlled drugs within 24 hours.
  • This requirement now only applies to narcotic and controlled drugs.
• Schedule I and II drugs, controlled drug substances and personal health information must be secured by physical barriers when no full pharmacists is present and the premise is accessible to non-registrants.
  • Schedule III drugs have been removed from this requirement.
• Existing pharmacies have 3 years – from the date the bylaws are in force – to install physical barriers. All new pharmacies must have physical barriers.

Comments on the draft Bylaws should be submitted to the College or to the Ministry of Health no later than December 18, 2016.

To learn more and provide comments visit: http://www.bcpharmacists.org/bylaws-comment-community-pharmacy-security. 

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Removing Non-Prescription Naloxone from the Drug Schedules Regulation

The College Board approved amending the provincial Drug Schedules Regulation by classifying naloxone as unscheduled in order to provide greater accessibility in an effort to respond to BC’s public health emergency regarding the significant increase in opioid overdoses and deaths. More information on this change to the scheduling of non-prescription naloxone will be shared soon.

Naloxone resources and a naloxone training webinar are available on the College’s website here: http://www.bcpharmacists.org/naloxone. 

Fee Schedule Changes

The Board approved amendments to the Health Professions Act (HPA) Bylaws Schedule D – Fee Schedule. The Board also approved proposed draft Pharmacy Operations and Drug Scheduling Act (PODSA) Bylaws Schedule A – Fee Schedule and related forms for public posting. The Audit and Finance Committee determined that fee increases are required to ensure the College is able to cover its projected expenditures for the 2017/18 fiscal year.

HPA Fee changes approved for pharmacy professionals:

• Increase Full Pharmacists’ Registration, Registration Renewal fees from $530 to $580.
• Increase Non-Practising Pharmacists’ Registration fees from $504 to $580.
• Increase Pharmacy Technician registration and renewal fees from $353 to $386.
• Increase Pharmacy Technician – non-practising registration fees from $336 to $386.

PODSA Fee changes posted for public comment for pharmacies (both Community and Hospital pharmacies):

• New Pharmacy application fee - $525.00
• Increase Pharmacy annual license fee from $1,331.00 to $2,001.00

As per section 21(8) of PODSA, the proposed PODSA fees and forms have been posted for public comment.

Comments on the draft Bylaws should be submitted to the College or to the Ministry of Health no later than December 18, 2016. Please note that the College may request a shortened public posting period from the Minister.

To learn more and provide comments visit: http://www.bcpharmacists.org/bylaws-comment-podsa-fees-and-forms.

Continued Support for Pharmacy Association Annual Conferences

The College Board made the decision to continue provide funding for three pharmacy association annual conferences. The College has supported BCPhA, CSHPA and the Pharmacy Tech Association with a contribution to their annual conferences for several years.

This contribution gives the College the opportunity to host a booth, some promotion opportunities and, often, the opportunity to do a presentation.

The College budget will continue to set aside $24,500 in total each year to support annual conferences.

Annual UBC Continuing Pharmacy Professional Development Funding to be Removed from College Budget

The College Board made the decision to discontinue the College’s annual grant to UBC’s Continuing Pharmacy Professional Development (CPPD). Instead, CPPD will be invited to submit grant proposals for individual programs to the College Board for consideration.

Moving Forward with a College Name Change

The College Board made the decision to pursue officially changing the name of the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia to the College of Pharmacy of British Columbia. Changing the name of the College would require a change to the Health Professions Act.

The Board reviewed the feedback received through the College Name Change Engagement. The College received over 1,500 responses to the online survey used to collect feedback. The College Name Change – Results of Online Engagement Report, which summarized the results of the feedback, was shared with the College Board. The majority of feedback to the College’s Name Change Engagement suggested that the College should consider changing its name to better reflect the College’s role in regulating both pharmacy technicians and pharmacists in BC.

While “College of Pharmacy Professionals of British Columbia” received the most support from survey respondents as a new name for consideration. The suggestion of “College of Pharmacy of British Columbia” was the clear consensus among those who suggested alternative names from the initial options provided. The “College of Pharmacy of British Columbia” also reflects the College’s regulation of both pharmacy professionals and pharmacies and would allow the College to continue to use the same acronym (CPBC).

Injecting Innovation into BC's Health Framework

Aaron Sihota presented to the Board on Injecting Innovation into BC’s Health Framework – a presentation he presented to the BC Select Standing Committee on Health on July 7, 2016. The all-party Select Standing Committee on Health is working to identify potential strategies to maintain a sustainable health care system for British Columbians. Aaron and Robson Liu were invited to present to the committee based on their submission to the committee with recommendations on how to make health care in BC sustainable through innovation.

Their recommendations to the committee included establishing a BC Health Innovation Council type of body (or including healthcare as a sector under the BC Innovation Council’s mandate) and ensuring front-line clinician representation on any such advisory group.