(ONLY FOR RESIDENTS OF OHIO)

We, the undersigned, are concerned citizens of Ohio who urge our Board of Pharmacy to examine various levels of compliance with OBRA-90, ORC and OAC as related to: pharmacist counseling, prospective drug utilization review, pharmacist-specific notations (prospectively) in patient profiles that are relevant to individual drug therapies, the levels of compliance obtained through automation verses thoughtful pharmacist interaction, and conclude whether or not these occurrences satisfy the intended meaning of Ohio law as established by the people in order to thwart abuse and misuse of prescription medications.

According to Ohio law, pharmacists share an equal and corresponding responsibility with physicians to ensure that a prescription is written for a legitimate medical purpose. In consideration of Ohio’s opiate addiction rate and deaths due to overdose, hospitalizations due to preventable medication errors, a voluntary Ohio Drug Take Back program that nets 18 tons of unused drugs in 2016, investigative reports in other states, the growth of MTM (retrospective), studies which show 90% over-ride rates on DUR warnings, high rate (90%) of patient counseling declines evidenced in log books, and the absence of voluntary error reporting; we ask the Ohio Board of Pharmacy to determine whether or not there is reasonable pharmacist compliance with OAC rules and standards of care in retail outpatient and mail-order pharmacies that either reside or do business within our state. The standards of care in this petition are especially but not limited to:

OAC 4729-5-18

OAC 4729-5-20

OAC 4729-5-21

OAC 4729-5-22