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Indiana News: Update on the Blue Card Rule and Recent Violations
Published in the August 2007 Indiana Board of Pharmacy Newsletter
The Blue Card Rule (BCR) states as follows: “Any pharmacy staff (i.e. pharmacist, pharmacy intern, pharmacy technician or pharmacy technician-in-training) performing duties and responsibilities that require licensure or certification must publicly display all pharmacy staff blue cards (a.k.a. pocket cards) in one central location.”
Following the Board’s implementation of the BCR, the Board of Pharmacy issued duplicate blue pocket cards to all active pharmacy professionals (over 40,000 cards – two (2) per licensee – were issued).
The issuance of the duplicate cards and enforcement of the BCR have led to the following: (a) Over eighty (80) consumer complaints filed against technicians and pharmacists-in-charge (PIC) and pharmacies for allowing individuals without proper certification/licensure to work in a pharmacy setting (in one matter, a company was employing eleven (11) technicians that were not properly certified); and (b) two (2) pharmacists were discovered working with expired licenses for seven (7) and seventeen (17) years respectively – consumer complaints have been filed against both individuals, their respective PICs, and the pharmacies that employed them.
Note that any individual that is determined to have worked without proper certification or licensure in a pharmacy is in violation of Indiana statute and rule and will be subject to discipline by the Board and/or prosecution by local law enforcement (as it is a criminal offense to do so). In addition, any PIC supervising or pharmacy employing the individual will be subject to discipline by the Board of Pharmacy as it is the responsibility of these parties to ensure that all individuals within their supervision/employ are properly licensed.
