Pharmacy Regulatory Innovation Index: Benchmarking the regulatory environment in 10 western states

Abstract

BackgroundPharmacy is among the most regulated of health professions on the basis of both word count and restrictions. State-level restrictions limit the ability of pharmacists to be fully engaged as members of the health care team. ObjectiveThis paper aimed to create a simple benchmark—the Pharmacy Regulatory Innovation Index (PRII)—that takes into account the scope-of-practice allowances that a state provides to pharmacists and the overall regulatory burden for the pharmacy profession using 10 western states as a sample. MethodsA scorecard was developed on the basis of the activities reported as necessary for pharmacists to fully engage in the Pharmacists’ Patient Care Process (PPCP). The laws and regulations of 10 western states were analyzed using plain-text interpretation. ResultsThe 10 western states fall into 3 of 4 distinct quadrants. Three states appear in the highly regulated, low-innovation quadrant (Oregon, California, and Nevada), and 2 states appear in the low-regulated, high-innovation quadrant (Idaho and Washington). The remaining 5 states fall in the low-regulated, low-innovation quadrant (Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming). ConclusionThe PRII has been created to assess a state’s regulatory burden and its scope-of-practice allowances, using the PPCP as a guide for innovation. States can use the PRII tool to benchmark their regulations in comparison with those of peer states and identify opportunities for improvement.