The Ohio Board of Pharmacy will soon implement a set of new rules intended to prevent severe understaffing that has endangered patients at some Ohio locations. They’re slated to take effect on May 1.

They come after CVS in February agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine to settle board citations against 22 of its Ohio stores. Eight of them were placed on probation.

Among the problems found by pharmacy board inspectors between 2020 and late last year were delays in filling prescriptions as long as a month; improperly filled prescriptions that in at least one instance resulted in patient harm; a lack of controls and the loss of opioids and other dangerous drugs; and adulterated or expired medications persisting on pharmacy shelves month after month.

The rules being implemented by the pharmacy board are intended to ensure that such things never happen again in Ohio.

One requires pharmacies to “Ensure sufficient personnel are scheduled to work at all times in order to minimize fatigue, distraction, or other conditions which interfere with a pharmacist’s ability to practice with reasonable competence and safety. Staffing levels shall not be solely based on prescription volume but shall consider any other requirements of the practice of pharmacy by pharmacy personnel during working hours.”

Current and former workers at Ohio CVS pharmacies last year reported being worked to the breaking point. And, some said, district and regional managers sometimes refused help even when it was available.

To alleviate burnout that can lead to mistakes filling prescriptions, new rules will require that all pharmacies give all employees working six hours or more an uninterrupted 30-minute break.

More significantly, the new rules require pharmacies to come up with a formal system so pharmacists can request additional staff. They also require pharmacy owners to act promptly on those requests and prohibit owners from retaliating against pharmacists who request extra help.

Among the problems board of pharmacy inspectors found at understaffed Ohio CVS stores were lengthy delays in filling prescriptions. 

In a hearing last November, a former pharmacy technician at a Canton CVS store described patients who were infuriated in 2021 when the store was forced to close without giving them their medicine.

Haille Stanick, the technician, described walking out after closing one evening wearing her scrubs, which made her easily recognizable as a pharmacy employee.

“I was cornered at my car by about three or four patients, all very angry, asking me what’s going on with their medications,” she said. “One gentleman was trying to get antibiotics for his son and he was very, very upset.”

To keep such delays from happening again, the new board of pharmacy rules require new prescriptions to be filled within three business days and those  subject to auto refill to be done within five.