Connecticut pilots collaborative practice

It's going to be up to 10 Connecticut pharmacists chosen for a pilot program to prove to legislators that collaborative practice agreements can deliver patient care in the community pharmacy.

The state legislature recently agreed to modify the practice act to let outpatient clinic R.Ph.s enter collaborative practice agreements with physicians for certain disease states. Outpatient pharmacists can work with patients in the areas of anticoagulation, asthma, diabetes, congestive heart failure, hypertension, hyperdyslipidemia, osteoporosis, and smoking cessation.

But the legislators drew the line at extending the same collaborative practice privileges to community pharmacists. However, through intense lobbying, the Connecticut Pharmacists Association (CPA) was able to prevent community R.Ph.s from being shut out entirely. With some arm-twisting, the chairs of the public health committees agreed to amend the bill to include a two-year pilot program to let community pharmacists prove that they, too, can provide patient care under protocol.