Elizabeth Wade

Dear House Executive Departments and Administration Committee, I greatly support this bill, especially the added language: "Performance of the act is within the accepted standard of care that would be provided in a similar setting by a reasonable and prudent individual with similar education, training, and experience." I recently participated in a joint collaborative national summit with the American Society of Health System Pharmacists, the American Pharmacists Association, and National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, Implementing Solutions Summit 2.0. I am not speaking on their behalf, but as a summit participant and NH citizen. One of the most challenging barriers that faces our pharmacy profession since the pandemic are workplace conditions fueling stress and burnout across all clinical practice settings. The goal of this summit was to develop actionable solutions for employers, associations, boards of pharmacy to implement within their spheres of influence. One of the domains that resulted from the summit involved regulatory and legislative framework. A standard-of-care regulatory model, already implemented in other states such as Idaho, is a flexible approach to regulation that allows personnel to perform a wide range of services aligned with their level of experience and training. This necessitates a broad definition of the practice of pharmacy, allowing elasticity for practice innovation over time. This also limits prescriptive regulations and eliminates unnecessary regulations. Pharmacy personnel are expected to use their professional judgment, and this requires accountability for deviations from the standard of care. The language in SB504 aligns with the recommendations from this summit and would wholeheartedly encourage committee members to support this. Thank you for your time.