§30-5-19. Collaborative pharmacy practice agreement and practice notification.
(a) A pharmacist engaging in collaborative pharmacy practice shall have on file at his or her place of practice the collaborative pharmacy practice agreement. The existence and subsequent termination of the agreement and any additional information the rules may require concerning the agreement, including the agreement itself, shall be made available to the appropriate licensing board for review upon request. The agreement may allow the pharmacist, within the pharmacist’s scope of practice pursuant to the collaborative pharmacy practice agreement, to conduct drug therapy management activities approved by the collaborating physician. The collaborative pharmacy practice agreement shall be a voluntary process, which is a physician directed approach after informed consent of the patient and noted in the patient’s medical record, that is entered into between an individual physician or physician group and an individual pharmacist or pharmacists. A pharmacist may not diagnose.
(b) A collaborative pharmacy practice agreement may authorize a pharmacist to provide drug therapy management. In instances where drug therapy is discontinued, the pharmacist shall notify the treating physician of the discontinuance in the time frame and in the manner established by joint legislative rules. Each protocol developed, pursuant to the collaborative pharmacy practice agreement, shall contain detailed direction concerning the services that the pharmacists may perform for that patient. The protocol shall include, but need not be limited to:
(1) The specific drug or drugs to be managed by the pharmacist;
(2) The terms and conditions under which drug therapy may be implemented, modified, or discontinued;
(3) The conditions and events upon which the pharmacist is required to notify the physician;
(4) The laboratory tests that may be ordered in accordance with drug therapy management; and
(5) The mutually agreed upon patient evaluations the pharmacist may conduct.
(c) All activities performed by the pharmacist in conjunction with the protocol shall be documented in the patient’s medical record. The pharmacists shall report at least every 30 days to the physician regarding the patient’s drug therapy management. The collaborative pharmacy practice agreement and protocols shall be available for inspection by the board, the West Virginia Board of Medicine, or the West Virginia Board of Osteopathic Medicine, depending on the licensing board of the participating physician. A copy of the protocol shall be filed in the patient’s medical record.
(d) Collaborative pharmacy agreements may not include the management of controlled substances.
(e) A collaborative pharmacy practice agreement, meeting the requirements herein established and in accordance with joint rules, shall be allowed in the hospital setting, the nursing home setting, the medical school setting and the hospital, community pharmacy setting and ambulatory care clinics. The pharmacist shall be employed by or under contract to provide services to the hospital, community pharmacy, nursing home, ambulatory care clinic, or medical school, or hold a faculty appointment with one of the schools of pharmacy or medicine in this state.
(f) Notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary, a pharmacist or group of pharmacists may practice in collaboration with physicians in any practice setting, including but not limited to a health care system, pursuant to a practice notification which has been filed with the appropriate board: Provided, That a pharmacist who is currently in collaboration with physicians pursuant to a practice agreement which was approved prior to June 1, 2023, may continue to practice under that agreement until the practice agreement terminates or until June 1, 2024.
(g) The practice notification shall be filed with the appropriate licensing board and becomes effective immediately upon filing. The board retains jurisdiction to investigate any complaints filed regarding a practice notification with respect to their respective license holders.
(h) Nothing pertaining to collaborative pharmacy practice shall be interpreted to permit a pharmacist to accept delegation of a physician’s authority outside the limits included in the appropriate board’s statute and rules.
