[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5491 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5491

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants to States to 
    establish and implement programs for registering pharmaceutical 
                              technicians.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 26, 2008

  Mr. LaTourette (for himself, Mr. Lynch, and Mr. Burton of Indiana) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants to States to 
    establish and implement programs for registering pharmaceutical 
                              technicians.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Pharmacy Technician Training and 
Registration Act of 2008'' or as ``Emily's Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Common pharmacy technician tasks include calling 
        doctors to authorize prescription refills, putting medications 
        into prescription containers, entering prescriptions into 
        computers, typing drug labels, and, in many States, mixing 
        drugs from raw materials, preparing intravenous solutions, and 
        even preparing chemotherapy treatments.
            (2) There are few State and no Federal requirements for 
        formal training or certification of pharmacy technicians, 
        according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
            (3) Employment of pharmacy technicians is expected to grow 
        much faster than the average rate for all occupations through 
        2014, because, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as 
        the population grows and ages demand for pharmaceuticals will 
        increase dramatically.
            (4) About 7 out of 10 of pharmacy technician jobs are in 
        retail pharmacies, grocery stores, department stores, or mass 
        retailers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
            (5) About 2 out of 10 pharmacy technician jobs are in 
        hospitals, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
            (6) Millions of medication doses are dispensed annually at 
        hospitals, and a February 2006 study on hospital dispensing 
        errors by the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient 
        Safety found that pharmacists failed to detect more than 20 
        percent of all filling errors made by pharmacy technicians.
            (7) The MEDMARX Data Report released in January 2008 
        revealed that more than 1,400 commonly used drugs are involved 
        in medication errors linked to drug names that look or sound 
        alike. This study reviewed more than 26,000 records from 2003 
        to 2006. This result is nearly double the number of pairs that 
        were identified in the previous report on this topic in 2004.
            (8) Since 1992, the Food and Drug Administration has 
        received more than 20,000 voluntary reports of medication 
        errors.

SEC. 3. STATE PHARMACEUTICAL TECHNICIAN REGISTRATION PROGRAMS.

    Part D of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
254b et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

                ``Subpart XI--Pharmaceutical Technicians

``SEC. 340H. STATE PHARMACEUTICAL TECHNICIAN REGISTRATION PROGRAMS.

    ``(a) Grants.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services may make 
grants to States to establish and implement a pharmaceutical technician 
registration program described in subsection (b).
    ``(b) Registration Program Description.--A pharmaceutical 
technician registration program described in this subsection is a 
program under which--
            ``(1) the State prohibits an individual from performing the 
        duties of a pharmaceutical technician in such State unless the 
        individual is registered by the State Board of Pharmacy to 
        perform such duties; and
            ``(2) as minimum requirements for such registration, the 
        State requires the individual--
                    ``(A) to have attained a secondary school diploma 
                or its recognized equivalent;
                    ``(B) to be certified by the Pharmacy Technician 
                Certification Board; and
                    ``(C) to have--
                            ``(i) attained an associate's degree in 
                        pharmacy technology;
                            ``(ii) completed a course of training for 
                        pharmaceutical technicians accredited by the 
                        American Society of Health-System Pharmacists; 
                        or
                            ``(iii) graduated from a school of pharmacy 
                        recognized by the State Board of Pharmacy.
    ``(c) Annual Reporting on Pharmaceutical Technician Errors.--As a 
condition on the receipt of a grant under this section, a State shall 
agree to submit an annual report to the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services on pharmaceutical technician errors in the State.
    ``(d) Transitional Period for Practicing Technicians.--A State 
receiving a grant under this section may provide a transitional period 
for individuals who began practicing as pharmaceutical technicians 
before the date of the enactment of this section to comply with the 
requirements of the registration program under this section.
    ``(e) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `State Board of Pharmacy' means the 
        regulatory body empowered by the State to regulate the 
        pharmaceutical practice, including granting registrations to 
        and disciplining individuals and companies.
            ``(2) The term `pharmacy technician' means an individual 
        who assists a pharmacist in the performance of his or her 
        pharmacy-related duties.
            ``(3) The term `secondary school' has the meaning given to 
        such term in section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary 
        Education Act of 1965.
            ``(4) The term `Secretary' means the Secretary of Health 
        and Human Services.''.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of the Congress that State Boards of Pharmacy 
should strive to ensure--
            (1) a ratio of 2 pharmaceutical technicians to each 
        pharmacist in hospital settings; and
            (2) a ratio of 3 pharmaceutical technicians to each 
        pharmacist in other settings, including drug stores.
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