O’Connor publishes commentary on regulation in pharmacy profession

Shanna O’Connor, associate professor and head of the Department of Pharmacy Practice at South Dakota State University, recently published a commentary on pharmacy regulations in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association.

O’Connor co-authored the commentary alongside Jennifer L. Adams, Brandy Seignemartin, Allie Jo Shipman, Wendy McConnell, Ally Dudman, Julie Akers and Veronica Vernon. The authors are part of a team that is funded through a grant from the Mercatus Center.

The commentary discusses regulation in the pharmacy profession, noting that “the pharmacy profession has a history of overregulation ... resulting in considerable regulatory burden and confusion among professionals and regulatory bodies as to what is, and is not, allowed in practice.”

The authors discuss three different approaches to regulation including the Bright Line model, the Right Touch model, and the Standards of Care model.

According to the commentary, the Bright Line model is the most restrictive of the three, and “is easy to administer and produces certain, although not always equitable, results.” The authors also noted that this approach does not always prioritize the patient’s best interest.

The Right Touch model, predominantly used in the United Kingdom, is less restrictive than Bright Line, looking first at the problem and making decisions accordingly. One weakness of the Right Touch approach, according to the authors, is the time required for changes to occur. According to the authors, “another drawback of the right touch regulatory approach is that, like bright line regulation, it requires changes to regulation and law as practice changes.”

The Standards of Care model is the approach recommended by the authors of this commentary.

The authors find the Standards of Care model to be the least restrictive of the three, noting that it “supports flexibility and innovation for the pharmacy profession and increases access to health care in a manner that is absent in both bright line and right touch approaches.”

The authors argue that the Standards of Care model is needed in the pharmacy profession, claiming it allows for “practicing at the top of a practitioners clinical ability,” and that the Standards of Care regulatory approach “has at its central focus, patient safety.”

Learn more about the Standards of Care model and read the full publication online.