I 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5491 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants to States to 

establish and implement programs for registering pharmaceutical technicians. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 26, 2008 

Mr. LATOURETTE (for himself, Mr. LYNCH, and Mr. BURTON of Indiana) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants 

to States to establish and implement programs for registering pharmaceutical technicians. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pharmacy Technician 

5 Training and Registration Act of 2008’’ or as ‘‘Emily’s 

6 Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 The Congress finds as follows: 


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1 (1) Common pharmacy technician tasks include 

2 calling doctors to authorize prescription refills, put3 ting medications into prescription containers, enter4 ing prescriptions into computers, typing drug labels, 

5 and, in many States, mixing drugs from raw mate6 rials, preparing intravenous solutions, and even pre7 paring chemotherapy treatments. 

8 (2) There are few State and no Federal require9 ments for formal training or certification of phar10 macy technicians, according to the Bureau of Labor 

11 Statistics (BLS). 

12 (3) Employment of pharmacy technicians is ex13 pected to grow much faster than the average rate for 

14 all occupations through 2014, because, according to 

15 the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as the population 

16 grows and ages demand for pharmaceuticals will in17 crease dramatically. 

18 (4) About 7 out of 10 of pharmacy technician 

19 jobs are in retail pharmacies, grocery stores, depart20 ment stores, or mass retailers, according to the Bu21 reau of Labor Statistics. 

22 (5) About 2 out of 10 pharmacy technician jobs 

23 are in hospitals, according to the Bureau of Labor 

24 Statistics. 


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1 (6) Millions of medication doses are dispensed 

2 annually at hospitals, and a February 2006 study on 

3 hospital dispensing errors by the Joint Commission 

4 Journal on Quality and Patient Safety found that 

5 pharmacists failed to detect more than 20 percent of 

6 all filling errors made by pharmacy technicians. 

7 (7) The MEDMARX Data Report released in 

8 January 2008 revealed that more than 1,400 com9 monly used drugs are involved in medication errors 

10 linked to drug names that look or sound alike. This 

11 study reviewed more than 26,000 records from 2003 

12 to 2006. This result is nearly double the number of 

13 pairs that were identified in the previous report on 

14 this topic in 2004. 

15 (8) Since 1992, the Food and Drug Adminis16 tration has received more than 20,000 voluntary re17 ports of medication errors. 

18 SEC. 3. STATE PHARMACEUTICAL TECHNICIAN REGISTRA19 TION PROGRAMS. 

20 Part D of title III of the Public Health Service Act 

21 (42 U.S.C. 254b et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

22 the following: 


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1 ‘‘Subpart XI—Pharmaceutical Technicians 

2 ‘‘SEC. 340H. STATE PHARMACEUTICAL TECHNICIAN REG3 ISTRATION PROGRAMS. 

4 ‘‘(a) GRANTS.—The Secretary of Health and Human 

5 Services may make grants to States to establish and im6 plement a pharmaceutical technician registration program 

7 described in subsection (b). 

8 ‘‘(b) REGISTRATION PROGRAM DESCRIPTION.—A 

9 pharmaceutical technician registration program described 

10 in this subsection is a program under which— 

11 ‘‘(1) the State prohibits an individual from per12 forming the duties of a pharmaceutical technician in 

13 such State unless the individual is registered by the 

14 State Board of Pharmacy to perform such duties; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(2) as minimum requirements for such reg17 istration, the State requires the individual— 

18 ‘‘(A) to have attained a secondary school 

19 diploma or its recognized equivalent; 

20 ‘‘(B) to be certified by the Pharmacy Tech21 nician Certification Board; and 

22 ‘‘(C) to have— 

23 ‘‘(i) attained an associate’s degree in 

24 pharmacy technology; 

25 ‘‘(ii) completed a course of training 

26 for pharmaceutical technicians accredited 


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1 by the American Society of Health-System 

2 Pharmacists; or 

3 ‘‘(iii) graduated from a school of 

4 pharmacy recognized by the State Board of 

5 Pharmacy. 

6 ‘‘(c) ANNUAL REPORTING ON PHARMACEUTICAL

7 TECHNICIAN ERRORS.—As a condition on the receipt of 

8 a grant under this section, a State shall agree to submit 

9 an annual report to the Secretary of Health and Human 

10 Services on pharmaceutical technician errors in the State. 

11 ‘‘(d) TRANSITIONAL PERIOD FOR PRACTICING TECH12 NICIANS.—A State receiving a grant under this section 

13 may provide a transitional period for individuals who 

14 began practicing as pharmaceutical technicians before the 

15 date of the enactment of this section to comply with the 

16 requirements of the registration program under this sec17 tion. 

18 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

19 ‘‘(1) The term ‘State Board of Pharmacy’ 

20 means the regulatory body empowered by the State 

21 to regulate the pharmaceutical practice, including 

22 granting registrations to and disciplining individuals 

23 and companies. 


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1 ‘‘(2) The term ‘pharmacy technician’ means an 

2 individual who assists a pharmacist in the perform3 ance of his or her pharmacy-related duties. 

4 ‘‘(3) The term ‘secondary school’ has the mean5 ing given to such term in section 9101 of the Ele6 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. 

7 ‘‘(4) The term ‘Secretary’ means the Secretary 

8 of Health and Human Services.’’. 

9 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

10 It is the sense of the Congress that State Boards of 

11 Pharmacy should strive to ensure— 

12 (1) a ratio of 2 pharmaceutical technicians to 

13 each pharmacist in hospital settings; and 

14 (2) a ratio of 3 pharmaceutical technicians to 

15 each pharmacist in other settings, including drug 

16 stores. 

Æ 


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