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Alaska News: Mandatory Patient Counseling
Published in the January 2006 Alaska Board of Pharmacy Newsletter
12 Alaska Administrative Code (AAC) 52.585(a) states that “With each new prescription dispensed, the pharmacist shall verbally provide counseling to the patient or the patient’s agent. . . .” The key words are “shall verbally provide counseling.” Having the technician give the filled prescription to the patient and say, “You don’t want to talk to the pharmacist, do you?” definitely does not meet this requirement. This actually happened in a Fairbanks pharmacy and is a blatant violation of pharmacy regulations. The pharmacy, pharmacist, and technician could be disciplined by the Board for this infraction. The pharmacist-in-charge (PIC) could also be disciplined since one of the PIC’s responsibilities is to ensure “compliance with all laws and regulations governing the activities of the pharmacy.” The Board is very serious about compliance with this regulation and will take disciplinary action where warranted.
