Innovations-Magazine-February-2023 - 6

INTERVIEW WITH A BOARD EXECUTIVE OFFICER
John Clay Kirtley, PharmD
Executive Director, Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy
Arkansas State Board
of Pharmacy
Number of Board
Members
6 pharmacist members
and 2 public members
Number of
Compliance
Officers/Inspectors
5
Rules & Regulations
Established by
State Board
of Pharmacy
Number of
Pharmacist Licensees
6,948
Number of
Pharmacies
1,398
Number of
Wholesale
Distributors
1,859
How long have you served as
executive director of the Arkansas
State Board of Pharmacy? What
was your role prior to working
with the Board?
I began working for the Board as assistant
director in December 2004 and became
executive director in June 2011. Prior to
joining the Board staff, I was an assistant
professor at the University of Arkansas for
Medical Sciences College of Pharmacy. I
also worked in community pharmacies after
graduating from the University of Arkansas
for Medical Sciences.
What is one of the most
significant challenges or issues
that your Board addressed in
the past year or so?
During the coronavirus disease 2019
pandemic, we faced some major issues
dealing with patients' ability to access
pharmacies that were unable to be open
or that were unable to keep up with the
workload they were facing with existing staff.
What actions were taken by the
Board to address the issue?
Our Board has been very clear with
pharmacies in our state that two major
criteria must be met: First, community
pharmacies must be open 40 hours per
week and, second, pharmacies must be open
when they advertise being open. Parts of this
discussion also affirm that if a pharmacy is
unable to take care of the patient population
and deliver primary services to its patients,
then it likely does not have the staff or time
to perform other ancillary services.
What other key issues has the
Board been focusing on?
Over the last year, we have removed several
obstacles to practice in certain areas, such
as removing the requirements to have
an endorsement to practice disease state
management or to work as a consultant
pharmacist for long-term care. Both these
requirements had to be removed from the
4 | FEBRUARY 2023
state statute in order to also remove the
related rules. Our Board also removed
a similar endorsement requirement for
medication administration for giving
vaccinations and, most recently, worked with
partners to develop and gain approval for
statewide protocols for pharmacists to have
test-to-treat authority for Streptococcus A and
influenza, as well as protocols for pharmacists
to directly supply oral contraceptives to
patients in Arkansas.
What insights do you have for
other states that may be facing
similar challenges?
I think the most difficult part of dealing with
issues such as scope of practice expansion is
that you must figure out who to approach
and how to build a relationship in order to
make change a possibility. I believe our best
chance for success when facing challenges
often centers on our ability to have ongoing,
positive relationships with our pharmacy/
pharmacist associations, organizations,
colleges, and schools of pharmacy. It is
fascinating as, often, pharmacists only think
of the Board as a place of punishment, or
they may confuse the Board's functions
with that of an association. While our
role is public protection, most boards of
pharmacy have both staff and members
who are incredible experts in the practice
of pharmacy and who have great ideas on
how implementation can and should work
for these types of projects. Our Board has
long had the approach of education being
as important, if not more important, than
enforcement. In the end, whatever the rules,
guidelines, and limitations in the practice
of pharmacy, the Board will generally be
the entity that oversees them, so we might
as well be involved in the front-end
planning as well.
Innovations-Magazine-February-2023

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