Innovations-Magazine-April-2022 - 6

INTERVIEW WITH A BOARD EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Kari Shanard-Koenders, MSJ, RPh
Executive Director, South Dakota State Board of Pharmacy
South Dakota State Board
of Pharmacy
Number of Board
Members
4 pharmacist members
and 1 public member
Number of
Compliance
Officers/Inspectors
2
Rules & Regulations
Established by
State Board of
Pharmacy (Board
promulgates rules;
others review and
approve.)
Number of
Pharmacist Licensees
2,085
Number of
Pharmacies
308
Number of Wholesale
Distributors
47 (in-state)
How long have you served as
executive director?
I have served as executive director of the Board
since 2015. This is a job I had never aspired
to or even considered. In 2012, I accepted a
position with the South Dakota Prescription
Drug Monitoring Program, which is housed
within the Board. My career prior to that
position included several years in hospital,
psychiatric, and long-term care pharmacy,
and time as a clinical corporate utilization
management director for long-term care.
Every position I have had has been an amazing
learning experience, very challenging, and has
contributed to the knowledge needed to do
this job.
What is one of the most significant
challenges or issues that your
Board addressed in the past year?
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
pandemic clearly has been the most significant
challenge to our Board. We ordered tablets
for staff members who only had desktop
computers in the office, just in case we had to
move to telework, so that licensing activities
and other work could continue. We learned
on March 13, 2020, that we would not be
back in the office the following Monday.
It was a surreal feeling. On top of that, we
were fielding tons of " what if " questions and
posting everything the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention and others put out
to our Coronavirus Resources page on the
Board's website.
What actions were taken by the
Board to address the issue?
During our first Board meeting on April 2,
2020, after the declaration of the public health
emergency, the Board passed emergency rules
designed to provide regulatory flexibility during
the pandemic. There was a presumed need for
pharmacies to be able to operate and take care
of patients, despite closed provider offices. The
emergency rules had not been fully executed
when Governor Kristi Noem asked us to pull
them and instead offered to add the requested
flexibility via an executive order, which was
4 | APRIL 2022
very helpful. We relaxed many rules, which was
the right thing to do for our licensees.
What other key issues has the
Board been focusing on?
As the state moves forward, we are considering
expanding the scope of practice for pharmacy
technicians. The regulatory flexibility in the
Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness
Act provided a new scope for our licensees
and registrants. Being able to order and
administer COVID-19 countermeasures has
been monumental to pharmacy practice scope
expansion. Being able to delegate the mechanics
of an immunization to a trained technician,
when utilized, has been very successful. We
must ask ourselves whether this provides the
assistance pharmacy and pharmacists need
to provide safe prescriptions to the residents
of our state. Has it been a blessing or a curse?
All the while, the practice of pharmacy is
cycling into a different place than I have ever
witnessed in my nearly 40 years of practice. We
are seeing pharmacies closing. If this happens
too frequently, the health and safety of South
Dakota patients will be affected due to lack of
access to pharmacy services. Short staffing and
overburdened staff are creating an environment
that may not be healthy for pharmacy personnel
and, by extension, for them to be practicing
with reasonable skill and safety.
What insights do you have for
other states that may be facing
similar challenges?
We are a supportive Board in that we are
available to answer questions and give guidance
to those who are struggling or just have law
questions. We answer the phones. My advice
is for boards to support their licensees and
registrants, while making the regulatory
environment one that does not make their jobs
more difficult. Our mission is to protect and
promote the health and safety of the public by
supporting pharmacists and pursuing the highest
quality pharmaceutical care through education,
communication, licensing, regulation, and
enforcement. This truly is how the South
Dakota State Board of Pharmacy operates.
Innovations-Magazine-April-2022

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