2010 Georgia Code
TITLE 26 - FOOD, DRUGS, AND COSMETICS
CHAPTER 4 - PHARMACISTS AND PHARMACIES
ARTICLE 4 - DISCIPLINE
§ 26-4-60 - Grounds for suspension, revocation, or refusal to grant licenses

O.C.G.A. 26-4-60 (2010)
26-4-60. Grounds for suspension, revocation, or refusal to grant licenses


(a) The board of pharmacy may refuse to issue or renew, or may suspend, revoke, or restrict the licenses of, or fine any person pursuant to the procedures set forth in this Code section, upon one or more of the following grounds:

(1) Unprofessional conduct as that term is defined by the rules of the board;

(2) Incapacity that prevents a licensee from engaging in the practice of pharmacy with reasonable skill, competence, and safety to the public;

(3) Being guilty of one or more of the following:

(A) A felony;

(B) Any act involving moral turpitude; or

(C) Violations of the pharmacy or drug laws of this state, or rules and regulations pertaining thereto, or of laws, rules, and regulations of any other state, or of the federal government;

(4) Misrepresentation of a material fact by a licensee in securing the issuance or renewal of a license;

(5) Engaging or aiding and abetting an individual to engage in the practice of pharmacy without a license falsely using the title of "pharmacist" or "pharmacy intern," or falsely using the term "pharmacy" in any manner;

(6) Failing to pay the costs assessed in a disciplinary hearing pursuant to subsection (c) of Code Section 26-4-28;

(7) Becoming unfit or incompetent to practice pharmacy by reason of:

(A) Intemperance in the use of alcoholic beverages, narcotics, or habit-forming drugs or stimulants; or

(B) Any abnormal physical or mental condition which threatens the safety of persons to whom such person may compound or dispense prescriptions, drugs, or devices or for whom he or she might manufacture, prepare, or package or supervise the manufacturing, preparation, or packaging of prescriptions, drugs, or devices;

(8) Being adjudicated to be mentally ill or insane;

(9) Violating any rules and regulations promulgated by the board;

(10) Promoting to the public in any manner a drug which may be dispensed only pursuant to prescription;

(11) Regularly employing the mails or other common carriers to sell, distribute, and deliver a drug which requires a prescription directly to a patient; provided, however, that this provision shall not prohibit the use of the mails or other common carriers to sell, distribute, and deliver a prescription drug directly to:

(A) A patient or directly to a patient's guardian or caregiver or a physician or physician acting as the patient's agent for whom the prescription drug was prescribed if:

(i) Such prescription drugs are prescribed for complex chronic, terminal, or rare conditions;

(ii) Such prescription drugs require special administration, comprehensive patient training, or the provision of supplies and medical devices or have unique patient compliance and safety monitoring requirements;

(iii) Due to the prescription drug's high monetary cost, short shelf life, special manufacturer specified packaging and shipping requirements or instructions which require temperature sensitive storage and handling, limited availability or distribution, or other factors, the drugs are not carried in the regular inventories of retail pharmacies such that the drugs could be immediately dispensed to multiple retail walk-in patients;

(iv) Such prescription drug has an annual retail value to the patient of more than $10,000.00;

(v) The patient receiving the prescription drug consents to the delivery of the prescription drug via expedited overnight common carrier and designates the specialty pharmacy to receive the prescription drug on his or her behalf;

(vi) The specialty pharmacy utilizes, as appropriate and in accordance with standards of the manufacturer, United States Pharmacopeia, and Federal Drug Administration and other standards adopted by the State Board of Pharmacy, temperature tags, time temperature strips, insulated packaging, or a combination of these; and

(vii) The specialty pharmacy establishes and notifies the enrollee of its policies and procedures to address instances in which medications do not arrive in a timely manner or in which they have been compromised during shipment and to assure that the pharmacy replaces or makes provisions to replace such drugs; or

(B) An institution or to sell, distribute, or deliver prescription drug refills, upon his or her request, to an enrollee in a health benefits plan of a group model health maintenance organization or its affiliates by a pharmacy which is operated by that same group model health maintenance organization and licensed under Code Section 26-4-110. Any pharmacy using the mails or other common carriers to dispense prescriptions pursuant to this paragraph shall comply with the following conditions:

(i) The pharmacy shall provide an electronic, telephonic, or written communications mechanism which reasonably determines whether the medications distributed by the mails or other common carriers have been received by the enrollee and through which a pharmacist employed by the group model health maintenance organization or a pharmacy intern under his or her direct supervision is enabled to offer counseling to the enrollee as authorized by and in accordance with his or her obligations under Code Section 26-4-85, unless the enrollee refuses such consultation or counseling pursuant to subsection (e) of such Code section. In addition, the enrollee shall receive information indicating what he or she should do if the integrity of the packaging or medication has been compromised during shipment;

(ii) In accordance with clinical and professional standards, the State Board of Pharmacy shall promulgate a list of medications which may not be delivered by the mails or other common carriers. However, until such list is promulgated, the group model health maintenance organization shall not deliver by use of the mails or other common carriers Class II controlled substance medications, medications which require refrigeration, chemotherapy medications deemed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency as dangerous, medications in suppository form, and other medications which, in the professional opinion of the dispensing pharmacist, may be clinically compromised by distribution through the mail or other common carriers;

(iii) The pharmacy shall utilize, as appropriate and in accordance with standards of the manufacturer, United States Pharmacopeia, and Federal Drug Administration and other standards adopted by the State Board of Pharmacy, temperature tags, time temperature strips, insulated packaging, or a combination of these; and

(iv) The pharmacy shall establish and notify the enrollee of its policies and procedures to address instances in which medications do not arrive in a timely manner or in which they have been compromised during shipment and to assure that the pharmacy replaces or makes provisions to replace such drugs.

For purposes of subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, the term "group model health maintenance organization" means a health maintenance organization that has an exclusive contract with a medical group practice to provide or arrange for the provision of substantially all physician services to enrollees in health benefits plans of the health maintenance organization;

(12) Unless otherwise authorized by law, dispensing or causing to be dispensed a different drug or brand of drug in place of the drug or brand of drug ordered or prescribed without the prior authorization of the practitioner ordering or prescribing the same;

(13) Violating or attempting to violate a statute, law, any lawfully promulgated rule or regulation of this state, any other state, the board, the United States, or any other lawful authority without regard to whether the violation is criminally punishable, which statute, law, rule, or regulation relates to or in part regulates the practice of pharmacy, when the licensee or applicant knows or should know that such action is violative of such statute, law, or rule; or violating either a public or confidential lawful order of the board previously entered by the board in a disciplinary hearing, consent decree, or license reinstatement; or

(14) Having his or her license to practice pharmacy revoked, suspended, or annulled by any lawful licensing authority of this or any other state, having disciplinary action taken against him or her by any lawful licensing authority of this or any other state, or being denied a license by any lawful licensing authority of this or any other state.

(b) The board shall have the power to suspend or revoke the license of the pharmacist in charge when a complete and accurate record of all controlled substances on hand, received, manufactured, sold, dispensed, or otherwise disposed of has not been kept by the pharmacy in conformance with the record-keeping and inventory requirements of federal law and the rules of the board.

(c) Any person whose license to practice pharmacy in this state has been suspended, revoked, or restricted pursuant to this chapter, whether voluntarily or by action of the board, shall have the right, at reasonable intervals, to petition the board for reinstatement of such license pursuant to rules and regulations promulgated by the board. Such petition shall be made in writing and in the form prescribed by the board. The board may, in its discretion, grant or deny such petition, or it may modify its original finding to reflect any circumstances which have changed sufficiently to warrant such modifications.

(d) Nothing in this Code section shall be construed as barring criminal prosecutions for violations of this chapter.

(e) All final decisions by the board shall be subject to judicial review pursuant to Chapter 13 of Title 50, the "Georgia Administrative Procedure Act."

(f) Any individual or entity whose license to practice pharmacy is revoked, suspended, or not renewed shall return his or her license to the offices of the board within ten days after receipt of notice of such action.

(g) For purposes of this Code section, a conviction shall include a finding or verdict of guilty, a plea of guilty, or a plea of nolo contendere in a criminal proceeding, regardless of whether the adjudication of guilt or sentence is withheld or not entered thereon.

(h) Nothing in this Code section shall be construed as barring or prohibiting pharmacists from providing or distributing health or drug product information or materials to patients which are intended to improve the health care of patients.

(i) The board shall have the power to suspend any license issued under Article 3 of this chapter when such holder is not in compliance with a court order for child support as provided in Code Section 19-6-28.1 or 19-11-9.3. The board shall also have the power to deny the application for issuance or renewal of a license under Article 3 of this chapter when such applicant is not in compliance with a court order for child support as provided in either of such Code sections. The hearings and appeals procedures provided for in such Code sections shall be the only such procedures required to suspend or deny any license issued under Article 3 of this chapter.

(j) Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit any person from assisting any duly licensed pharmacist or practitioner in the measuring of quantities of medication and the typing of labels therefor, but excluding the dispensing, compounding, or mixing of drugs, provided that such duly licensed pharmacist or practitioner shall be physically present in the dispensing area and actually observing the actions of such person in doing such measuring and typing, and provided, further, that no prescription shall be given to the person requesting the same unless the contents and the label thereof shall have been verified by a licensed pharmacist or practitioner.

(k) The board shall have the power to suspend any license issued under Article 3 of this chapter when such holder is a borrower in default who is not in satisfactory repayment status as provided in Code Section 20-3-295. The board shall also have the power to deny the application for issuance or renewal of a license under Article 3 of this chapter when such applicant is a borrower in default who is not in satisfactory repayment status as provided in Code Section 20-3-295. The hearings and appeals procedures provided for in Code Section 20-3-295 shall be the only such procedures required to suspend or deny any license issued under Article 3 of this chapter.