New steps on dispensing of drugs clear committee

Doctors would be able to dispense prescription contraceptives and a drug used to prevent opioid overdose without obtaining a permit from the Arkansas State Medical Board, under a bill that cleared a Senate committee on Wednesday.






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Senate Bill 162, recommended for approval by the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee, also would allow people to obtain the anti-overdose drug, naloxone, from a pharmacist without first obtaining a doctor's prescription.

The pharmacist would have to notify the customer's primary-care provider and give the customer a fact sheet on the drug and a record of the transaction. The steps required by the pharmacist would be outlined in a protocol established by the Medical Board and state Board of Pharmacy.

David Wroten, executive vice president of the Arkansas Medical Society, said the legislation, sponsored by Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, R-Rogers, would make both naloxone and contraceptives more widely available -- helping prevent overdoses and unintended pregnancies.

The bill also would allow pharmacists to administer any medication, instead of only certain medications such as vaccines.

On another issue dealing with health care workers, the committee also recommended approval of Senate Bill 167, which would allow surgical technologists to register with the state Medical Board.

The workers, who help prepare operating rooms and supplies and assist surgeons during operations, would have to complete an approved certification program or to have worked as a technologist during the first half of 2017.

Registration would not be required, however. SB167's sponsor, Sen. David Sanders, R-Little Rock, said the legislation wouldn't create licensure or minimum standards for the workers.

Catherine Sparkman, director of government and public affairs for the Association of Surgical Technologists, said Virginia passed similar legislation in 2012. Since then, about 75 percent of that state's surgical technologists have registered, she said.

A Section on 02/16/2017

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