Innovations-Magazine-August-2022 - 12

INTERVIEW WITH A BOARD MEMBER
Janet Getzey Hart, RPh
Chairperson, Pennsylvania State Board of Pharmacy
Pennsylvania State
Board of Pharmacy
Number of Board
Members
5 pharmacist members
and 2 public members,
plus 2 ex officio
members
Number of
Compliance
Officers/Inspectors
6
Rules & Regulations
Established by
State Board of
Pharmacy, General
Assembly, and various
other regulatory
review agencies
Number of
Pharmacist Licensees
23,473
Number of
Pharmacies
3,296
Number of
Wholesale
Distributors
N/A
When were you appointed to
the Board of Pharmacy? Are you
a pharmacist, technician, public
member, or other type of member?
I was first appointed to the Board in
December 2013. In Pennsylvania, we
have six-year terms, so I served my sixyear
term and then was reappointed. I
am a pharmacist member and a chain
community pharmacist member. (Janet
Getzey Hart was elected to serve on the 20222023
NABP Executive Committee subsequent
to providing this interview.)
In your opinion, what steps should
a board member take to be
successful in their role?
I think a board member should always
listen, take into account everything that
comes into a discussion, and then make a
decision based on what they hear. I think
I learn something new every day.
What are some recent policies,
legislation, or regulations your
Board has implemented or is
currently working on?
We are regulating our pharmacy technicians
and working through that process. We want
to implement the best technician regulations
that we can because we cannot afford to not
have good technicians. It is not going to
happen overnight. It took us 20 years to
get to this point.
Has the Board encountered any
challenges to developing and/or
implementing these new policies,
legislation, or regulations?
If so, explain.
Our challenges are dealing with Pennsylvania's
regulatory and legislative processes. A rule or
regulation has to go to a screening committee.
The committee makes comments and sends
them back to the Board. The Board then
reviews the comments and returns them to the
committee. It is a very lengthy process. It is
just the way it is in Pennsylvania. For instance,
10 | AUGUST 2022
it took about five years to change the intern
hours requirement because the regulation had
to go through the entire process.
The Public Readiness and Emergency
Preparedness Act (PREP Act) has greatly
increased access for the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania residents as far as getting
immunizations and other health care.
If we could continue with the PREP Act,
that would be very good from the patient
and consumer perspective.
Being a retail pharmacist right now is
a hard job, between vaccinations, filling
prescriptions, and everything else. Until
everyone gets back on a normal schedule,
it is just the reality right now.
What advice would you give
to a new Board member?
Be open-minded and think outside your
scope of practice. You have to understand the
profession, not just where you are.
Have you served as a member
of any NABP task forces or
committees, or attended NABP
or district meetings? If so, in your
experience, what are the benefits
of participating in these
NABP activities?
I have served on several NABP task forces,
including the Task Force on Prescription Drug
Abuse and the Task Force on Long-Term
Care Pharmacy Rules, as well as on the 2022
Committee on Law Enforcement/Legislation.
I have also attended district meetings and
NABP Annual Meetings for a number of
years. I feel it is very important to attend
them. They offer the best networking
opportunities. You can get 20 emails' worth
of information in a simple two-minute
conversation. It is very easy, when you are
sitting face-to-face with a person, to tell
them what you want to do, what needs to be
done, and how it will serve the public.
Innovations-Magazine-August-2022

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