37-7-201. Organization -- powers and duties. (1) The board shall meet at least once a year to transact its business. The board shall annually elect from its members a president, vice president, and secretary.

(2) The board shall regulate the practice of pharmacy in this state, including but not limited to:

(a) establishing minimum standards for:

(i) equipment necessary in and for a pharmacy;

(ii) the purity and quality of drugs, devices, and other materials dispensed within the state through the practice of pharmacy, using an official compendium recognized by the board or current practical standards;

(iii) specifications for the facilities, including outsourcing facilities, as well as for the environment, supplies, technical equipment, personnel, and procedures for the storage, compounding, or dispensing of drugs and devices;

(iv) monitoring drug therapy; and

(v) maintaining the integrity and confidentiality of prescription information and other confidential patient information;

(b) requesting the department to inspect, at reasonable times:

(i) places where drugs, medicines, chemicals, or poisons are sold, vended, given away, compounded, dispensed, or manufactured; and

(ii) the appropriate records and the license of any person engaged in the practice of pharmacy for the purpose of determining whether any laws governing the legal distribution of drugs or devices or the practice of pharmacy are being violated. The board shall cooperate with all agencies charged with the enforcement of the laws of the United States, other states, or this state relating to drugs, devices, and the practice of pharmacy. It is a misdemeanor for a person to refuse to permit or otherwise prevent the department from entering these places and making an inspection.

(c) regulating:

(i) the training, qualifications, employment, licensure, and practice of interns;

(ii) the training, qualifications, employment, and registration of pharmacy technicians; and

(iii) under therapeutic classification, the sale and labeling of drugs, devices, medicines, chemicals, and poisons;

(d) examining applicants and issuing and renewing licenses of:

(i) applicants whom the board considers qualified under this chapter to practice pharmacy;

(ii) pharmacies and certain stores under this chapter;

(iii) wholesale distributors;

(iv) third-party logistics providers as defined in 37-7-602; and

(v) persons engaged in the manufacture and distribution of drugs or devices;

(e) in concurrence with the board of medical examiners, defining the additional education, experience, or certification required of a licensed pharmacist to become a certified clinical pharmacist practitioner;

(f) issuing certificates of "certified pharmacy" under this chapter;

(g) establishing and collecting license and registration fees;

(h) approving pharmacy practice initiatives that improve the quality of, or access to, pharmaceutical care but that fall outside the scope of this chapter. This subsection (2)(h) may not be construed to expand on the definition of the practice of pharmacy.

(i) establishing a medical assistance program to assist and rehabilitate licensees who are subject to the jurisdiction of the board and who are found to be physically or mentally impaired by habitual intemperance or the excessive use of addictive drugs, alcohol, or any other drug or substance or by mental illness or chronic physical illness. The board shall ensure that a licensee who is required or volunteers to participate in the medical assistance program as a condition of continued licensure or reinstatement of licensure must be allowed to enroll in a qualified medical assistance program within this state and may not require a licensee to enroll in a qualified treatment program outside the state unless the board finds that there is no qualified treatment program in this state.

(j) making rules for the conduct of its business;

(k) performing other duties and exercising other powers as this chapter requires; and

(l) adopting and authorizing the department to publish rules for carrying out and enforcing parts 1 through 7 of this chapter, including but not limited to:

(i) requirements and qualifications for the transfer of board-issued licenses;

(ii) minimum standards for pharmacy internship programs and qualifications for licensing pharmacy interns;

(iii) qualifications and procedures for registering pharmacy technicians; and

(iv) requirements and procedures necessary to allow a pharmacy licensed in another jurisdiction to be registered to practice telepharmacy across state lines.

(3) The board may:

(a) join professional organizations and associations organized exclusively to promote the improvement of standards of the practice of pharmacy for the protection of the health and welfare of the public and whose activities assist and facilitate the work of the board; and

(b) establish standards of care for patients concerning health care services that a patient may expect with regard to pharmaceutical care.