A 678: Allows pharmacy technicians to practice in any pharmacy under the supervision of a pharmacist.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 678 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. SOLAGES, HEVESI, SEAWRIGHT, LAVINE, BLUMENCRANZ, RAMOS, WOERNER -- read once and referred to the Committee on Higher Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to allowing pharmacy technicians to practice in any pharmacy under the supervision of a pharmacist The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 6841 of the education law, as 2 added by chapter 414 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as follows: 3 1. A registered pharmacy technician may, under the direct personal 4 supervision of a licensed pharmacist, assist such licensed pharmacist, 5 as directed, in compounding, preparing, labeling, or dispensing of drugs 6 used to fill valid prescriptions or medication orders or in compounding, 7 preparing, and labeling in anticipation of a valid prescription or medi- 8 cation order for a patient to be served by the facility, in accordance 9 with article one hundred thirty-seven of this title where such tasks 10 require no professional judgment. Such professional judgment shall only 11 be exercised by a licensed pharmacist. A registered pharmacy technician 12 may only practice [in a facility licensed in accordance with article 13 twenty-eight of the public health law, or a pharmacy owned and operated 14 by such a facility,] under the direct personal supervision of a licensed 15 pharmacist employed in such a [facility or] pharmacy. Such [facility] 16 pharmacy shall be responsible for ensuring that the registered pharmacy 17 technician has received appropriate training to ensure competence before 18 [he or she begins assisting] beginning to assist a licensed pharmacist 19 in compounding, preparing, labeling, or dispensing of drugs, in accord- 20 ance with this article and article one hundred thirty-seven of this 21 title. For the purposes of this article, direct personal supervision 22 means supervision of procedures based on instructions given directly by EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02176-01-5 
 A. 678 2 1 a supervising licensed pharmacist who remains in the immediate area 2 where the procedures are being performed, authorizes the procedures and 3 evaluates the procedures performed by the registered pharmacy techni- 4 cians and a supervising licensed pharmacist shall approve all work 5 performed by the registered pharmacy technician prior to the actual 6 dispensing of any drug. 7 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.