100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2017 and 2018
HB2392

 

Introduced , by Rep. Mary E. Flowers

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
225 ILCS 85/15  from Ch. 111, par. 4135
225 ILCS 85/15.3 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.


LRB100 07870 SMS 17941 b

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

HB2392LRB100 07870 SMS 17941 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 15.3 as follows:
 
6    (225 ILCS 85/15)  (from Ch. 111, par. 4135)
7    (Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2018)
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 or certificate of
8registration shall conspicuously display it in the pharmacy in
9which he is engaged in the practice of pharmacy. The pharmacist
10in charge shall conspicuously display his name in such
11pharmacy. The pharmacy license shall also be conspicuously
12displayed.
13    (6) It is unlawful for any pharmacy or pharmacy's agent or
14representative to take any action against any person in
15retaliation for the exercise of rights under this Section. In
16any civil proceeding brought under this subsection, if the
17plaintiff establishes that he or she was employed by the
18defendant, exercised rights under this Section, or alleged in
19good faith that the defendant was not complying with this
20Section, and was thereafter terminated, demoted, or otherwise
21penalized by the defendant, then a rebuttable presumption shall
22arise that the defendant's action was taken in retaliation for
23the exercise of rights established by this Section. To rebut
24the presumption, the defendant must prove that the sole reason
25for the termination, demotion, or penalty was a legitimate
26business reason.

 

 

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1    (7) A person claiming violation of this Section shall be
2entitled to all remedies available under law or in equity,
3including, but not limited to, damages, back pay,
4reinstatement, or injunctive relief. Any person terminated in
5violation of this Section shall recover treble his or her lost
6normal daily compensation and fringe benefits, together with
7interest thereon, and any consequential damages suffered by the
8employee. The court shall award reasonable attorney's fees and
9costs to a prevailing plaintiff in an enforcement action under
10this Section.
11(Source: P.A. 95-689, eff. 10-29-07; 96-219, eff. 8-10-09;
1296-1000, eff. 7-2-10.)
 
13    (225 ILCS 85/15.3 new)
14    Sec. 15.3. Whistleblower protection.
15    (a) In this Section, "retaliatory action" means the
16reprimand, discharge, suspension, demotion, denial of
17promotion or transfer, or change in the terms and conditions of
18employment of any employee of a pharmacy that is taken in
19retaliation for the employee's involvement in a protected
20activity as set forth in paragraphs (1) through (3) of
21subsection (b).
22    (b) A pharmacy shall not take any retaliatory action
23against an employee of the pharmacy because the employee does
24any of the following:
25        (1) discloses or threatens to disclose to a supervisor

 

 

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

 

 

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1        (2) two times the amount of back pay;
2        (3) interest on the back pay;
3        (4) reinstatement of full fringe benefits and
4    seniority rights; and
5        (5) payment of reasonable costs and attorney's fees.
6    (e) Nothing in this Section shall be deemed to diminish the
7rights, privileges, or remedies of an employee of a pharmacy
8under any other federal or State law, rule, or regulation or
9under any employment contract.
 
10    (225 ILCS 85/18)  (from Ch. 111, par. 4138)
11    (Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2018)
12    Sec. 18. Record retention. Except as provided in subsection
13(b), there shall be kept in every drugstore or pharmacy a
14suitable book, file, or electronic record keeping system in
15which shall be preserved for a period of not less than 5 years
16the original, or an exact, unalterable image, of every written
17prescription and the original transcript or copy of every
18verbal prescription filled, compounded, or dispensed, in such
19pharmacy; and such book or file of prescriptions shall at all
20reasonable times be open to inspection to the pharmacy
21coordinator and the duly authorized agents or employees of the
22Department. In addition, any errors in the receiving, filling,
23or dispensing of prescriptions of any kind, including any
24errors resulting in an adverse drug interaction or adversely
25affecting the health of the patient, shall be a part of these

 

 

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

 

 

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1    Inpatient drug orders may be maintained within an
2institution in a manner approved by the Department.
3(Source: P.A. 94-84, eff. 6-28-05; 95-689, eff. 10-29-07.)