Home - ICHP KeePosted

Official Newsjournal of the Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists

Government Affairs Report
The Task Force Continues Deliberations in November and December

by Jim Owen and Scott Meyers

Before we begin with our update from the November 2018 Collaborative Pharmaceutical Task Force, let’s start with a quick mention of what happened, or actually didn’t happen during the fall 2018 Veto Session. The General Assembly overrode several of Governor Rauner’s vetoes but the one ICHP pushed for, HB4096, never moved. In addition, new legislation was introduced that would require pharmacies to report controlled substance prescriptions on the day they were filled (HB5499) and another bill that would regulate pharmacy benefit managers (SB3642). Neither bill moved. Both new bills died when the 101st General Assembly was sworn in in January.

Now for the truly interesting and slowly progressing work of the Collaborative Pharmaceutical Task Force (henceforth referred to as the Task Force). At its November meeting, the Task Force did agree to recommend that all pharmacies establish, if they have not already, a Continuing Quality Improvement Program. The following is the recommendation:

Continuous Quality Improvement Program

Each pharmacy shall implement a program for continuous quality improvement, for the purpose of detecting, documenting, assessing, and preventing Quality-Related Events (QREs). At a minimum, a CQI Program shall include provisions to:

(i) Designate an individual or individuals responsible for implementing, maintaining, and monitoring the CQI Program, which is managed in accordance with written policies and procedures maintained in the pharmacy and in an immediately retrievable form;
(ii) Initiate documentation of QREs as soon as possible; but no more than seven days, after determining their occurrence;
(iii) Analyze data collected in response to QREs to assess causes and any contributing factors;
(iv) Use the findings of the analysis to formulate an appropriate response and develop pharmacy systems and workflow processes designed to prevent QREs and increase good outcomes for patients;
(v) Provide ongoing CQI education at least annually to all pharmacy personnel.

Any pharmacy that contracts with a federally-listed Patient Safety Organization (PSO) and has developed and implemented a Patient Safety Evaluation System in order to advance the goal of continuous quality improvement under the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-41) shall be deemed in compliance with this Section.

All information, communications, data, reports deliberations, and analyses of any pharmacy which satisfies the CQI Program requirements set forth that have the potential to improve quality and/or patient safety and are maintained as component of a pharmacy CQI Program are privileged and confidential and shall not be subject to discovery or admissible into evidence in a state or federal proceeding nor subject to a judicial subpoena.

These protections shall not prevent the review of a pharmacy’s CQI Program materials, policies, procedures, and corrective actions taken pursuant to their Program. In addition, the department may collect information of any adverse event or error that is maintained outside of the PSO’s Patient Safety Evaluation System or outside of the CQI Program in response to a subpoena. The disclosure of documents or information under the subpoena does not constitute a waiver of the privilege or confidentiality protections associated with a CQI Program.

In addition to the previous recommendation, the Task Force discussed possibly incorporating a reference to the Illinois Whistleblower Act 740ILCS174 in the Pharmacy Practice Act to better protect pharmacists, pharmacy technicians or pharmacy students who report what they believe to be violations of the Practice Act or unsafe practices to State agencies. There was also discussion (but no resolution) regarding whether the required meal break in the One Day of Rest in Seven Act applied to pharmacists. More discussion on that issue is scheduled for December.

At the December 11th meeting of the Task Force, a member of the Department of Labor made a presentation regarding meal breaks and overtime. Unfortunately, more questions were identified than were answered so this topic will be discussed in January. There was general agreement that it appears currently that pharmacists are entitled to at least a 20-minute meal break within the first five hours of their shift if they work at least 7½ hours in that shift. In addition, there also again appeared to be agreement that pharmacy personnel should be protected by the Whistleblower Act. What remains unclear is whether pharmacists are considered exempt employees with regard to overtime. The Task Force will create a list of questions and request written answers from the General Counsel from the Department of Labor.