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OLR Bill Analysis
sSB 1059 (File 116, as amended by Senate "A")*
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A TASK FORCE TO STUDY THE
OPERATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER
PROTECTION.
SUMMARY
This bill makes pharmacists and pharmacy interns (hereinafter,
“pharmacists and interns”) eligible for the professional assistance
program for health professionals (currently, the Health Assistance
InterVention Education Network (HAVEN); see BACKGROUND). By
law, the program is an alternative, voluntary, and confidential
rehabilitation program that provides various services to health
professionals with a chemical dependency, emotional or behavioral
disorder, or physical or mental illness.
In doing so, the bill makes a number of minor and conforming
changes to reflect the fact that the Department of Consumer Protection
(DCP) regulates pharmacists and interns; currently, the professionals
eligible for the program are regulated by the Department of Public
Health (DPH). These corresponding changes include establishing
separate but substantially similar provisions specifically for pharmacists
and interns and giving DCP oversight of these professionals’
participation in the program (see below). But under the bill, DPH
remains the lead agency responsible for the program (e.g., overseeing
the program’s annual audit and oversight committee).
The bill also correspondingly requires the assistance program to
submit certain information on participating pharmacists and interns to
the General Law Committee, like it currently submits to the Public
Health Committee for other health professionals.
The bill also raises the renewal credentialing fees for pharmacist and
intern licensees by $5, to $105 and $65, respectively. It requires the DCP 2023SB-01059-R01-BA.DOCX
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commissioner to transfer $5 from each renewal fee to the pharmacy
professional assistance program account, which the bill creates as a
separate, nonlapsing account. He must do so by the last day of January,
April, July, and October, each year. The funds must be used by DCP for
the assistance program (§§ 4 & 8-10).
*Senate Amendment “A” replaces the underlying bill, which would
have created a task force to study DCP’s operations.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2023, except the provisions on renewal
fees are effective July 1, 2025.
PARTICIPATION BY PHARMACISTS AND INT ERNS
As is the case for the health professionals already eligible to
participate in the assistance program, among other things, the bill:
1. requires the assistance program to include a medical review
committee that meets the bill’s requirements, which are
substantially similar to existing law’s requirements for medical
review committees (e.g., the committee must determine whether
the professional is an appropriate candidate, set the terms for his
or her participation, and refer specified individuals to DCP);
2. makes professionals who have engaged in certain conduct
ineligible to participate (e.g., conduct that has been subject to
disciplinary action, actions that constitute a felony, or alleged to
have harmed a patient);
3. generally requires the program to keep information related to an
intervention, rehabilitation, referral, or support services
confidential; and
4. specifies that if pharmacists or interns fail to comply with the
program, it must notify DCP and transfer related records to the
department.
DCP’s Authority and Oversight
To reflect DCP’s credentialing role for pharmacists and interns, the 2023SB-01059-R01-BA.DOCX
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bill, among other things:
1. gives DCP oversight of pharmacists’ and interns’ participation in
the assistance program, including making DCP the agency that
hospitals, health care practitioners, and the public notify if they
believe a pharmacist or intern is unable to practice with
reasonable skill or safety;
2. requires the program to notify DCP if it determines a pharmacist
or intern has engaged in conduct that makes him or her ineligible
to participate or is engaging in conduct that violates the terms of
his or her participation or endangers others;
3. requires the program to annually report to DCP, if there is no
other credentialing board or commission, data related to
pharmacists’ and interns’ participation; and
4. requires DPH to notify DCP in writing if it waives the assistance
program’s annual audit requirement and, regardless of this
waiver, allows DCP to require an audit of the program, to be
submitted to the department and the General Law Committee, to
examine whether it is appropriately serving pharmacists and
interns.
BACKGROUND
Health Professional Assistance Program
By law, before a health professional can enter the program, a medical
review committee must (1) determine if he or she is an appropriate
candidate for rehabilitation and participation and (2) set terms and
conditions for participation. The program must include mandatory
periodic evaluations of each participant’s ability to practice with skill
and safety and without posing a threat to the health and safety of any
person or patient (CGS § 19a-12a).
COMMITTEE ACTION
General Law Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 23 Nay 0 (03/02/2023)