Dear Missoula Pharmacists,
It’s been a rough session in Helena for pharmacy interests and the most disappointing part of that, in my opinion, it that very few pharmacists seem to know about the pending bills that will potentially affect our daily lives. Here’s a summary to get your blood pressure up and going: SB522, the bill that would have allowed certain psychologists to prescribe (and also dispense pursuant to present limits of MT law) was indefinitely postponed in the Senate and did not meet the deadline for transmittal to the House. It’s primary sponsor was Sen. Dan Weinberg. Below is a list of those senators who voted to indefinitely postpone the bill in the senate and those that voted to keep it alive (a “Yea” vote had the effect of killing the bill while a “Nay” vote would have kept the bill alive). I plan to e-mail the senators I know that voted “yea” and thank them for their action, and it would be great if every pharmacist would do the same. Carol Williams of Missoula was on the Senate committee that heard SB522, and I e-mailed her with my concerns before the hearing. She shared those concerns and e-mailed back saying that she would vote against the bill. The pharmacy community needs to keep track of voting records on bills that affect us and lend their support to candidates accordingly. Bill: SB 522 Date: 2/27/2007 Time: 4:49:16 PMVote Sequence Number: 623Motion: INDEF. POSTPONE Yeas: Bales, Barkus, Black, Brown, Brueggeman, Cobb, Curtiss, Elliott, Esp, Essmann, Gebhardt, Hansen, Harrington, Jackson, Jent, Juneau, Kaufmann, Laible, Laslovich, Lewis, Lind, McGee, Pease, Perry, Peterson, Ryan, Shockley, Squires, Steinbeisser, Story, Tash,J.Tropila, M.Tropila, Wanzenried, Weinberg, Williams, Mr. President.Total 37 Nays: Balyeat, Cocchiarella, Gallus, Gillan, Hawks, Kitzenberg, Larson, Moss, Murphy, O'Neil, Schmidt, Smith.Total 12
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SB 521, the bill that would revise pharmacy laws to prohibit substitution of anticonvulsants without consent of both the prescriber and the patient has been transmitted to the house and is not yet scheduled for hearing. It passed the senate with only two dissenting votes. I’ll let you know when the hearing is scheduled. Sen. John Esp was the primary sponsor.
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HB118, the bill that deals with RN dispensing in family planning clinics, has passed the House and will be heard in the Senate Public Health Welfare and Safety committee on Wednesday March 14th. I think that bill is innocuous, but if you don’t here’s your chance to speak up! The bill’s primary sponsor was Teresa Henry of Missoula.
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HB536, the drug pedigree bill, is still in the House following a hearing on 02/14. It’s listed as a revenue bill with a transmittal deadline of 04/03. The BOP originally opposed this bill and is helping to re-draft it. Rep. Arlene Becker is the primary sponsor. This bill would provide an electronic record of locations of prescription medications from the time they left the manufacturer until they roll onto our prescription shelves, and is a good measure for patient safety. That being said, I haven’t seen the final wording of the bill and am checking pretty much daily. It will have 2 remaining readings in the House once it gets out of committee. If it passes it will be sent to the Senate.
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SB326, the prescription drug monitoring program bill (primary sponsor Sen. Trudi Schmidt of Gt. Falls) was referred to the House Judiciary committee on 03/12 and its first reading in the House is today (03/13). Senators voting AGAINST this bill in the Senate (SB326 was supported by both the BOP and MPA) were: Bales, Balyeat, Brown, Curtiss, Gebhardt, McGee, O'Neil. There are no Missoula Senators on that list and this is primarily a Missoula blog, but I’d hope that pharmacists in the areas represented by these Senators will let them know how disappointed they were about their votes. I’ll make sure that pharmacists in their home areas are aware. We’ve been too kind for too long, folks... House Judiciary members for the upcoming hearing (no date yet) are:



Diane Rice
Chair
Dave Gallik
Vice Chair
Ron Stoker
Vice Chair
Douglas Cordier
Member
Robyn Driscoll
Member
Bob Ebinger
Member
George Everett
Member
Julie French
Member
Rick Jore
Member
Krayton Kerns
Member
Roger Koopman
Member
Tom McGillvray
Member
Deborah Kottel
Member
Jesse O'Hara
Member
Ken Peterson
Member
Holly Raser
Member
John Ward
Member

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SB397, the clinic medical practitioner dispensing bill sponsored by Sen. Kim Gillan of Billings passed the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Safety committee hearing on 2/14 despite being opposed by BOP and MPA due to patient safety concerns. Most of us knew nothing about that hearing or I’d hope that the hearing room would have been full of white coats! The bill was sent to the House on 2/21 with a 50-0 vote. There are two Missoula Representatives (Dave McAlpin and Diane Sands) on the House committee that I assume will be hearing the bill next. Let them know of your concerns before the hearing and please make every attempt to show up and testify at that hearing. The hearing has not yet been scheduled and I’ll e-mail or call you (or ride down the middle of Higgins shouting and playing a trumpet) when it is. If the majority of healthcare practitioners (and to think that some psychologists were nearly added to the list!) are able to dispense in the usual course of their practice (and the typical patient sees more than one practitioner) who will be monitoring for drug interactions? This isn’t in the best interest of our patients…it’s simply an accident waiting to happen.

Members of the House Human Services committee where this bill will likely be heard next are:

Member
Assignment
Ron Stoker
Chair
Arlene Becker
Vice Chair
Tom McGillvray
Vice Chair
Mary Caferro
Member
Ernie Dutton
Member
Julie French
Member
Pat Ingraham
Member
William J Jones
Member
Krayton Kerns
Member
Dave McAlpin
Member
Mike Milburn
Member
Ken Peterson
Member
Michele Reinhart
Member
Diane Sands
Member


I’ll write more later as updated information comes across...please e-mail this and other legislative information you run across to pharmacists you know across the state. The stakes are high.

Becky Deschamps, RPh