SB 340, as approved by the Michigan Senate, allows unsafe telepharmacy to be established throughout Michigan. The following changes must be made to the bill before it is enacted into law:
- The remote telepharmacy technicians must be nationally certified and have 2000 hours of experience.
- All areas of the remote telepharmacy must be under CONTINUOUS visual supervision at all times
- The 225 prescription limit per pharmacy per day is unrealistic and unsafe. Remote telepharmacies must have adequate staffing to avoid the risk of harm to public health and safety.
- Drug diversion prevention measures to ensure that these lightly staffed remote locations do not become targets of drug diversion must be incorporated.
- Pharmacist counseling before a prescription is dispensed from a remote pharmacy must be required. This is a necessary final check to prevent dispensing and medication errors
- The waivers allowed within the bill to ignore the minimum distance of 10 miles between a remote location and another pharmacy must be removed. Pharmacists have long been regarded as the most accessible and one of the most trusted health care professionals; the current waivers have the potential to cause a reduction in the presence of pharmacists in the community.
