BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON
BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Senator Jerry Hill, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 952 Hearing Date: April 4,
2016
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|Author: |Anderson |
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|Version: |February 4, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant|Sarah Huchel |
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Subject: Pharmacy technicians: licensure requirements
SUMMARY: Expands the number of pharmacy technician certification
programs that may be recognized toward pharmacy technician
licensure by the Board of Pharmacy (BOP).
Existing law:
1)Establishes the Board of Pharmacy to regulate the practice of
pharmacy and to administer and enforce the Pharmacy Law.
(Business and Professions Code (BPC) Sections 4000 et seq.)
2)Defines a pharmacy technician as an individual who assists a
pharmacist in a pharmacy in the performance of his or her
pharmacy related duties. (BPC § 4038)
3)Authorizes the BOP to issue a pharmacy technician license to
an individual if he or she is a high school graduate or
possesses a general educational development certificate
equivalent, and meets any one of the following requirements:
(BPC § 4202)
a) Has obtained an associate's degree in pharmacy
technology;
b) Has completed a course of training specified by the BOP;
c) Has graduated from a school of pharmacy recognized by
the BOP; or,
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d) Is certified by the Pharmacy Technician Certification
Board (PTCB).
4)Authorizes a pharmacy technician to perform packaging,
manipulative, repetitive, or other nondiscretionary tasks only
while assisting, and while under the direct supervision and
control of, a pharmacist. The pharmacist shall be responsible
for the duties performed under his or her supervision by a
technician, and a pharmacist may not supervise more than two
pharmacy technicians at any time, expect as specified. (BPC §
4115)
5)Requires BOP to ensure that every licensing examination
administered by or pursuant to contract with the BOP is
subject to periodic evaluation. The evaluation shall include:
(1) a description of the occupational analysis serving as the
basis for the examination; (2) sufficient item analysis data
to permit a psychometric evaluation of the items; (3) an
assessment of the appropriateness of prerequisites for
admittance to the examination; and (4) an estimate of the
costs and personnel required to perform these functions. The
evaluation shall be revised whenever, in the judgment of the
BOP, there is a substantial change in the examination or the
prerequisites for admittance to the examination. (BPC § 139)
This bill:
1) Permits a pharmacy technician applicant to attain
certification at any pharmacy technician certification
program approved by the BOP and accredited by the National
Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA).
2) Makes a technical change.
FISCAL
EFFECT: Unknown. This bill has been keyed "fiscal" by
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose. This bill is sponsored by the National Healthcareer
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Association (NHA), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ascend
Learning, Inc. According to the Author, this bill "eliminates
a statutory monopoly for one company that administers
certification examinations to pharmacy technicians, and
instead allows the BOP to approve any accredited certifying
organization.
"When PTCB was established in 1995 it had no competitors on a
national level. However, over the last decade or so, at least
one competitor has emerged: NHA, which administers the Exam
for the Certification of Pharmacy Technicians (ExCPT). NHA is
a national professional certification agency for healthcare
workers in a variety of allied health fields. Because
California law has created a statutory monopoly for PTCB, the
BOP is unable to approve any other certification tests
developed by anyone else, including NHA."
2. Background. Pharmacy technicians are licensed by the BOP to
perform nondiscretionary tasks under the direct supervision
of a pharmacist. The BOP allows four pathways to become a
pharmacy technician, one of which is to take the Pharmacy
Technician Certification Exam (PTCE) and become certified by
the PTCB.
This bill is sponsored by the NHA, a competing certification
association to PTCB. Both certification entities are
accredited by the NCCA, which accredits programs that certify
individuals in a range of healthcare and non-healthcare
roles.
Current law requires every licensing exam used by a board to
be evaluated for legitimacy. Among other requirements, the
evaluation must include an occupational analysis, which
establishes which skills to be tested. This is particularly
important for pharmacy technicians because there are
different requirements depending on where they practice.
However, there is no California occupational analysis for a
pharmacy technician.
At the BOP's request, the Department of Consumer Affairs'
Office of Professional Examination Services (OPES) evaluated
the PTCE and the ExCPT in 2014. The lack of an occupational
analysis was an impediment to a decisive review. OPES
writes, "A consistent issue with this examination review
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project was to attempt to reach consensus among practicing
pharmacists and pharmacy technicians regarding the specific
level of task and knowledge proficiency required for
licensure/certification." OPES ultimately concluded that
because of the disagreements about universal threshold
skills, "?it was not possible for either [subject matter
expert] group to give either examination an unqualified
endorsement." OPES found that the ExCPT covered a broader
range of retail and hospital setting responsibilities, but
PTCB covered more inpatient skills. Of particular concern is
that OPEC also found that PTCE covered skills outside of a
pharmacy technician's scope of practice.
OPES recommended that the BOP commission an occupational
analysis so that either or both exams could be recommended.
However, it does not appear that the BOP is planning to
conduct such an analysis. The BOP argues that it is not
required to do one because neither test are the BOP's own
examination, nor is certification by examination the only
route to licensure. Further, the BOP argues that it does not
have the financial or personnel resources and does not
believe that such a study would add value to the BOP's
existing knowledge about the exams.
This bill will allow BOP to approve any certification program
accredited by NCCA toward pharmacy technician licensure.
However, BOP should conduct an occupational analysis and any
other steps necessary to be in full statutory compliance with
its current exam and prior to approving any additional
programs.
3. Related Legislation. SB 1193 (Hill) extends the sunset date
on the BOP and the BOP's Executive Officer until 2021.
( Status : This bill is pending in the Senate Committee on
Business, Professions, and Economic Development.)
4. Arguments in Support. The NHA writes in support, "Both NHA
and PTCB are accredited by the same well-respected
accrediting body (NCCA), which ensures an objective third
party assessment of program governance psychometric soundness
and exam administration and security. Each must reapply for
accreditation every
5 years, and must make annual reports during the accreditation
period.
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"Currently, NHA's ExCPT exam is recognized in virtually all
the states that require or encourage certification for
pharmacy technicians. There are only a handful of states
that still give an exclusive monopoly to PTCB in this area."
.?"NHA has been working diligently to give pharmacy
technicians in California a choice of which exam to take in
order to obtain their license. The ExCPT is a less expensive
but more thorough exam. Specifically, the ExCPT exam fee is
only $105, compared to the $129 fee for the PTCE. And the
ExCPT contains 120 questions, compared to the PTCE's 90
questions. (The ExCPT allows an additional 10 minutes to
complete the test.) In addition, because NHA contracts with
a different testing facility than PTCB, passage of SB 952
would effectively double the number of testing locations in
California, thereby making it easier for applicants to access
the exam facilities most convenient to their homes or
workplaces.
?."SB 952 will allow greater access and opportunity for
pharmacy technicians to obtain licensure in California, and
will give them a much needed choice in terms of vendors.
Moreover, SB 952 would open up competition to any other
vendors that meet with Board approval. Open competition
always inures to the benefit of the consumer."
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION:
Support:
National Healthcareer Association (Sponsor)
California Retailers Association
National Association of Chain Drug Stores
Rite Aid Corporation
Opposition: None on file as of March 29, 2016.
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