In May 2016, the Provincial Government approved amendments to the Pharmacy Operations and Drug Scheduling Act.
New changes to the Pharmacy Operations and Drug Scheduling Act Bylaws (PODSA) require the College to know the identity of all pharmacy owners, determine their suitability for pharmacy ownership and hold them accountable for providing safe and effective care by ensuring their pharmacies are compliant with legislative requirements for pharmacies in BC.
While the majority of people involved in pharmacies are honest and ethical, the College needs to have the authority to protect the public from unscrupulous pharmacy owners and operations that put patient safety at risk.
- Bob Nakagawa, College Registrar
Key changes to the Pharmacy Operations and Drug Scheduling Act include:
- Distinguishes between “direct owners” and “indirect owners”
- Broadens the meaning of “pharmacy” and “pharmacy licence”
- Harmonizes requirements and processes for issuing, renewing and reinstating a pharmacy licence
- Sets eligibility requirements to hold a pharmacy licence
- Establishes a new Application Committee to review licence applications that do not meet the requirements of the Act and bylaws
- Adds requirements for direct owners, indirect owners and managers to provide Criminal Record History
- Requires direct owners, indirect owners and managers to comply with duties under the Pharmacy Operations and Drug Scheduling Act and Health Professions Act
- Requires direct owners, indirect owners and managers to give notice to the Registrar if certain events occur
The new requirements came into effect on April 1, 2018.
Learn how to begin preparing for your pharmacy licence renewal under the new PODSA requirements coming into effect in this #ReadLinks article: https://t.co/ncEl1FG3jn pic.twitter.com/Y6C0IS6N73
— BC Pharmacists (@BCPharmacists) February 23, 2018
Stakeholder Engagement
The College conducted stakeholder engagement in early 2017 to solicit feedback on the draft amendments to the Pharmacy Operations and Drug Scheduling Act Bylaws and Forms and related pharmacy licensure processes developed to incorporate the new pharmacy ownership requirements.
Specifically, the engagement was conducted to:
- Confirm that the draft bylaws clearly describe the requirements direct owners, indirect owners and managers must meet for a new pharmacy licence or pharmacy licence renewal.
- Hear from stakeholders on any requirements that may be confusing or difficult to understand.
- Confirm with stakeholders that they are able to determine their ownership type and hear from them about how we make this determination clearer, if needed.
- Confirm with stakeholders that they are able to determine what information they need to provide during the pharmacy licensing process based on their pharmacy’s ownership type, and identify any opportunities to make this process clearer.
- Hear from stakeholders about any challenges they may face in obtaining the information and documents required for pharmacy licence applications.
- Receive input from stakeholders about who should have access to the College’s web services (eServices) to update pharmacy information and complete pharmacy licence applications.
- Receive input from stakeholders about how the College can best reach pharmacy owners who are not pharmacists, to ensure that they are aware of the new requirements.
Who We Heard FromDuring the engagement on the new pharmacy ownership requirements, the College received significant engagement with pharmacy owners, managers, pharmacists and other types of directors. Participation in the New Pharmacy Ownership Requirements engagement:
|
New Pharmacy Ownership Requirements Engagement Report
For a more detailed overview of the new pharmacy ownership requirements, visit bcpharmacists.org/ownership
Resources
To assist pharmacy owners and managers with the transition, the College developed a number of resources and reference materials.