Title of Regulation: 18VAC110-40. Regulations Governing Collaborative Practice Agreements (amending 18VAC110-40-10, 18VAC110-40-20).

Statutory Authority: §§ 54.1-2400 and 54.1-3300.1 of the Code of Virginia.

Effective Date: April 23, 2014.

Agency Contact: Caroline Juran, RPh, Executive Director, Board of Pharmacy, 9960 Mayland Drive, Suite 300, Richmond, VA 23233-1463, telephone (804) 367-4416, FAX (804) 527-4472, or email caroline.juran@dhp.virginia.gov.

Summary:

To conform to the amendments made to §§ 54.1-3300 and 54.1-3300.1 of the Code of Virginia by Chapter 192 of the 2013 Acts of Assembly, the Board of Pharmacy has revised the definitions of "agreement" and "practitioner" and made associated changes in the regulations governing collaborative practice agreements.

18VAC110-40-10. Definitions.

The following words and terms when used in this chapter shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

"Agreement" means a collaborative practice agreement by which practitioners of medicine, osteopathy or podiatry and pharmacists enter into voluntary, written agreements to improve outcomes for their mutual patients using drug therapies, laboratory tests, and medical devices, pursuant to the provisions of § 54.1-3300.1 as defined in § 54.1-3300 of the Code of Virginia.

"Committee" means an Informal Conference Committee, comprised of two members of the Board of Pharmacy and two members of the Board of Medicine.

"Pharmacist" means a pharmacist who holds an active license to practice pharmacy from the Virginia Board of Pharmacy.

"Practitioner" means, notwithstanding the definition in § 54.1-3401 of the Code of Virginia, a doctor of medicine, osteopathy, or podiatry who writes the order and is directly and ultimately responsible for the care of a patient being treated under an agreement and who holds an active license to practice from the Virginia Board of Medicine.

18VAC110-40-20. Signed authorization for an agreement.

A. The signatories to an agreement shall be a practitioner of medicine, osteopathy, or podiatry involved directly in patient care and a pharmacist involved directly in patient care. The practitioner may designate alternate practitioners, and Within the agreement, the pharmacist may designate alternate pharmacists, provided the alternates are involved directly in patient care at a single physical location where patients receive services.

B. An agreement shall only be implemented for an individual patient pursuant to an order from the practitioner for that patient. Documented informed consent from the patient shall be obtained by the practitioner who authorizes the patient to participate in the agreement or by the pharmacist who is also a party to the agreement.

1. The patient may decline to participate or withdraw from participation at any time.

2. Prior to giving consent to participate, the patient shall be informed by the practitioner or the pharmacist of the cooperative procedures that will be used pursuant to an agreement, and such discussion shall be documented in the patient record.

3. As part of the informed consent, the practitioner and the pharmacist shall provide written disclosure to the patient of any contractual arrangement with any other party or any financial incentive that may impact one of the party's decisions to participate in the agreement.