North Carolina News: Item 2118 - New Rule Allows Temporary Pharmacist-Managers

July 1, 2006 3:12 PM Topics: Pharmacies

Reprinted from the July 2006 North Carolina Board of Pharmacy Newsletter.

An amendment to Rule .2502 permitting “temporary” pharmacist managers took effect on April 1, 2006. This amendment was strongly supported by community pharmacists, who are constantly dealing with the “pharmacist shortage” when staffing stores. Under Rule .2502, a permit may employ for a singe 90-day period a temporary pharmacist-manager who need only be present in the pharmacy for 20 hours per week. The “temporary” pharmacist-manager responsibilities do not otherwise differ from any other pharmacist-manager. This amendment should aid permittees who are having difficulty bridging from one pharmacist-manager to the next.

Different paperwork is not required for installing a temporary pharmacist manager. Permittees should fill out the same change of pharmacist-manager form (available at the Board Web site) and remit the appropriate fee. Permittees should note on the form or in an accompanying letter that the pharmacist-manager will be “temporary.”

Board staff frequently receive requests for extensions of the 30-day deadline by which a permittee must install a new pharmacist-manager, with the result being that a store may go two months or more without any pharmacist-manager. Please take note that Board staff will now look upon such requests with disfavor. For obvious reasons, the Board much prefers that a permittee operate with a temporary pharmacist-manager for 90 days, rather than operate with no pharmacist-manager for 30 or 60 days.