101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020
HB0010

 

Introduced 1/9/2019, by Rep. Mary E. Flowers

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
225 ILCS 85/15  from Ch. 111, par. 4135
225 ILCS 85/15.1 new
225 ILCS 85/18  from Ch. 111, par. 4138

    Amends the Pharmacy Practice Act. Requires that at least one registered pharmacy technician be on duty whenever the practice of pharmacy is conducted. Requires that pharmacies fill no more than 10 prescriptions per hour. Requires 10 pharmacy technician hours per 100 prescriptions filled. Prohibits pharmacies from requiring pharmacists to participate in advertising or soliciting activities that may jeopardize patient health, safety, or welfare and any activities or external factors that interfere with the pharmacist's ability to provide appropriate professional services. Provides that a pharmacist shall receive specified break periods. Provides that a pharmacy may not require a pharmacist to work during a break period, shall make available a break room meeting specified requirements, shall keep a complete and accurate record of the break periods and may not require a pharmacist to work more than 8 hours a workday. Provides for enforcement and penalties. Provides whistleblower protections for an employee of a pharmacy if the pharmacy retaliates against the employee for certain actions. Requires pharmacies to maintain a record of any errors in the receiving, filling, or dispensing of prescriptions.


LRB101 03972 JRG 48980 b

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

HB0010LRB101 03972 JRG 48980 b

1    AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Pharmacy Practice Act is amended by changing
5Sections 15 and 18 and by adding Section 15.1 as follows:
 
6    (225 ILCS 85/15)  (from Ch. 111, par. 4135)
7    (Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2020)
8    Sec. 15. Pharmacy requirements.
9    (1) It shall be unlawful for the owner of any pharmacy, as
10defined in this Act, to operate or conduct the same, or to
11allow the same to be operated or conducted, unless:
12        (a) It has a licensed pharmacist, authorized to
13    practice pharmacy in this State under the provisions of
14    this Act, and at least one pharmacy technician registered
15    under the provisions of this Act on duty whenever the
16    practice of pharmacy is conducted;
17        (b) Security provisions for all drugs and devices, as
18    determined by rule of the Department, are provided during
19    the absence from the licensed pharmacy of all licensed
20    pharmacists. Maintenance of security provisions is the
21    responsibility of the licensed pharmacist in charge; and
22        (c) The pharmacy is licensed under this Act to conduct
23    the practice of pharmacy in any and all forms from the

 

 

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1    physical address of the pharmacy's primary inventory where
2    U.S. mail is delivered. If a facility, company, or
3    organization operates multiple pharmacies from multiple
4    physical addresses, a separate pharmacy license is
5    required for each different physical address; .
6        (d) The pharmacy sets a prescription filling limit of
7    not more than 10 prescriptions filled per hour;
8        (e) The pharmacy mandates at least 10 pharmacy
9    technician hours per 100 prescriptions filled;
10        (f) The pharmacy places a general prohibition on
11    activities that distract pharmacists that includes:
12            (i) advertising or soliciting that may jeopardize
13        patient health, safety, or welfare; and
14            (ii) any activities or external factors, including
15        promotional requirements and productivity quotas, that
16        interfere with the pharmacist's ability to provide
17        appropriate professional services;
18        (g) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the
19    pharmacy provides a minimum of 2 15-minute paid rest breaks
20    and one 30-minute meal period in each workday on which the
21    pharmacist works at least 7 hours; a pharmacy may not
22    require a pharmacist to work during a break period; a
23    pharmacy that violates this paragraph shall pay to the
24    pharmacist 3 times the pharmacist's regular hourly rate of
25    pay for each workday during which the required breaks were
26    not provided;

 

 

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1        (h) The pharmacy makes available at all times a room on
2    the pharmacy's premises with adequate seating and tables
3    for the purpose of allowing a pharmacist to enjoy break
4    periods in a clean and comfortable environment;
5        (i) The pharmacy keeps a complete and accurate record
6    of the break periods of its pharmacists; and
7        (j) The pharmacy limits a pharmacist from working more
8    than 8 hours a workday.
9    (2) The Department may allow a pharmacy that is not located
10at the same location as its home pharmacy and at which pharmacy
11services are provided during an emergency situation, as defined
12by rule, to be operated as an emergency remote pharmacy. An
13emergency remote pharmacy operating under this subsection (2)
14shall operate under the license of the home pharmacy.
15    (3) The Secretary may waive the requirement for a
16pharmacist to be on duty at all times for State facilities not
17treating human ailments. This waiver of the requirement remains
18in effect until it is rescinded by the Secretary and the
19Department provides written notice of the rescission to the
20State facility.
21    (4) It shall be unlawful for any person, who is not a
22licensed pharmacy or health care facility, to purport to be
23such or to use in name, title, or sign designating, or in
24connection with that place of business, any of the words:
25"pharmacy", "pharmacist", "pharmacy department", "apothecary",
26"druggist", "drug", "drugs", "medicines", "medicine store",

 

 

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1"drug sundries", "prescriptions filled", or any list of words
2indicating that drugs are compounded or sold to the lay public,
3or prescriptions are dispensed therein. Each day during which,
4or a part which, such representation is made or appears or such
5a sign is allowed to remain upon or in such a place of business
6shall constitute a separate offense under this Act.
7    (5) The holder of any license shall conspicuously display
8it in the pharmacy in which he is engaged in the practice of
9pharmacy. The pharmacist in charge shall conspicuously display
10his name in such pharmacy. The pharmacy license shall also be
11conspicuously displayed.
12    (6) It is unlawful for any pharmacy or pharmacy's agent or
13representative to take any action against any person in
14retaliation for the exercise of rights under this Section. In
15any civil proceeding brought under this subsection, if the
16plaintiff establishes that he or she was employed by the
17defendant, exercised rights under this Section, or alleged in
18good faith that the defendant was not complying with this
19Section, and was thereafter terminated, demoted, or otherwise
20penalized by the defendant, then a rebuttable presumption shall
21arise that the defendant's action was taken in retaliation for
22the exercise of rights established by this Section. To rebut
23the presumption, the defendant must prove that the sole reason
24for the termination, demotion, or penalty was a legitimate
25business reason.
26    (7) A person claiming violation of this Section shall be

 

 

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1entitled to all remedies available under law or in equity,
2including, but not limited to, damages, back pay,
3reinstatement, or injunctive relief. Any person terminated in
4violation of this Section shall recover treble his or her lost
5normal daily compensation and fringe benefits, together with
6interest thereon, and any consequential damages suffered by the
7employee. The court shall award reasonable attorney's fees and
8costs to a prevailing plaintiff in an enforcement action under
9this Section.
10(Source: P.A. 100-497, eff. 9-8-17.)
 
11    (225 ILCS 85/15.1 new)
12    Sec. 15.1. Whistleblower protection.
13    (a) In this Section, "retaliatory action" means the
14reprimand, discharge, suspension, demotion, denial of
15promotion or transfer, or change in the terms and conditions of
16employment of any employee of a pharmacy that is taken in
17retaliation for the employee's involvement in a protected
18activity as set forth in paragraphs (1) through (3) of
19subsection (b).
20    (b) A pharmacy shall not take any retaliatory action
21against an employee of the pharmacy because the employee does
22any of the following:
23        (1) discloses or threatens to disclose to a supervisor
24    or to a public body an activity, inaction, policy, or
25    practice implemented by a pharmacy that the employee

 

 

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1    reasonably believes is in violation of a law, rule, or
2    regulation;
3        (2) provides information to or testifies before any
4    public body conducting an investigation, hearing, or
5    inquiry into any violation of a law, rule, or regulation by
6    a pharmacy; or
7        (3) assists or participates in a proceeding to enforce
8    the provisions of this Act.
9    (c) A violation of this Section may be established only
10upon a finding that: (1) the employee of the pharmacy engaged
11in conduct described in subsection (b) of this Section, and (2)
12this conduct was a contributing factor in the retaliatory
13action alleged by the employee. There is no violation of this
14Section, however, if the facility demonstrates by clear and
15convincing evidence that it would have taken the same
16unfavorable personnel action in the absence of that conduct.
17    (d) The employee of the pharmacy may be awarded all
18remedies necessary to make the employee whole and to prevent
19future violations of this Section. Remedies imposed by the
20court may include, but are not limited to, all of the
21following:
22        (1) reinstatement of the employee to either the same
23    position held before the retaliatory action or to an
24    equivalent position;
25        (2) two times the amount of back pay;
26        (3) interest on the back pay;

 

 

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1        (4) reinstatement of full fringe benefits and
2    seniority rights; and
3        (5) payment of reasonable costs and attorney's fees.
4    (e) Nothing in this Section shall be deemed to diminish the
5rights, privileges, or remedies of an employee of a pharmacy
6under any other federal or State law, rule, or regulation or
7under any employment contract.
 
8    (225 ILCS 85/18)  (from Ch. 111, par. 4138)
9    (Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2020)
10    Sec. 18. Record retention. There shall be kept in every
11drugstore or pharmacy a suitable book, file, or electronic
12record keeping system in which shall be preserved for a period
13of not less than 5 years the original, or an exact, unalterable
14image, of every written prescription and the original
15transcript or copy of every verbal prescription filled,
16compounded, or dispensed, in such pharmacy; and such book,
17file, or electronic record keeping system of prescriptions
18shall at all reasonable times be open to inspection to the
19chief pharmacy coordinator and the duly authorized agents or
20employees of the Department. In addition, any errors in the
21receiving, filling, or dispensing of prescriptions of any kind,
22including any errors resulting in an adverse drug interaction
23or adversely affecting the health of the patient, shall be a
24part of these records.
25    Every prescription filled or refilled shall contain the

 

 

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1unique identifiers of the persons authorized to practice
2pharmacy under the provision of this Act who fills or refills
3the prescription.
4    Records kept pursuant to this Section may be maintained in
5an alternative data retention system, such as a direct digital
6imaging system, provided that:
7        (1) the records maintained in the alternative data
8    retention system contain all of the information required in
9    a manual record;
10        (2) the data processing system is capable of producing
11    a hard copy of the electronic record on the request of the
12    Board, its representative, or other authorized local,
13    State, or federal law enforcement or regulatory agency;
14        (3) the digital images are recorded and stored only by
15    means of a technology that does not allow subsequent
16    revision or replacement of the images; and
17        (4) the prescriptions may be retained in written form
18    or recorded in a data processing system, provided that such
19    order can be produced in printed form upon lawful request.
20    As used in this Section, "digital imaging system" means a
21system, including people, machines, methods of organization,
22and procedures, that provides input, storage, processing,
23communications, output, and control functions for digitized
24representations of original prescription records.
25    Inpatient drug orders may be maintained within an
26institution in a manner approved by the Department.

 

 

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1(Source: P.A. 100-497, eff. 9-8-17.)