Vt. Pharmacy Board

May Suspend

Rite-Aid License

By M. D. Drysdale

In a rare enforcement action, the Vermont Board of Pharmacy has proposed to suspend the license of the Rite-Aid pharmacy in Randolph because of inadequate staffing.

The Board issued a "Request for Summary Suspension" after a meeting last Friday. A hearing will be held tomorrow, Friday, at 9:15 a.m. at the Office of Professional Regulation at the National Life Building in Montpelier.

At issue is the fact that Randolph Rite-Aid’s pharmacist manager quit her job on Nov. 2, and the pharmacy has been operating without a pharmacist manager since that time. This is illegal and unsafe, according to the Board.

At Friday’s hearing, the Board could immediately suspend the pharmacy’s license on the basis that "the public health, safety, or welfare imperatively requires emergency action."

Alternatively, it could give the store more time if it finds that the inconvenience to the public outweighs the danger to the public safety.

The best outcome of all, said Chris Winters, the director of the Office of Professional Regulation, would be if Rite-Aid came to the meeting with the news that it had been able to hire a new manager for the pharmacy.

As of Tuesday, his office had not heard back from Rite-Aid’s Vermont attorney, he said.

If the license is suspended, the state will not provide any pharmacy services but will help publicize the alternatives for patients. For instance, the Bethel office of Rite-Aid would not be affected by the state’s action, he said.

At Gifford Medical Center, physician manager Theresa Voci said she had not been told of the possible license suspension.

"That’s really bad. That’s concerning to me," she said. She said see would prefer to see the state "work with Rite-Aid instead of closing them."

An ‘Emergency’

"We really struggled with the decision (to seek a summary suspension)," Winters told The Herald. "We know it’s a huge inconvenience. But we do feel that this is of an emergency nature."

Two weeks previously, the Pharmacy Board had discussed complaints about unscheduled closings of Rite-Aid pharmacies, particularly the one in Randolph. The board found the pattern of closures to be "troubling," Winters said. But it took no action except to ask that the board and prosecutors be kept informed.

The loss of the pharmacist manager, Rebecca Lamothe, was a new and more serious development, he said. The "Statement of Facts" explains why the position is so important:

"The manager is the only person with a pharmacy-wide responsibility for assuring that the pharmacy is at all times operated in a way that guarantees the quality of goods and services provided to the public.

"The pharmacist manager is the sole person charged with assuring that a pharmacy is adequately staffed, that all staff are adequately trained and supervised, that inventories are properly and securely maintained so that the medicines needed are available and that controlled substances are not diverted into the illicit drug trade …"

The manager also has responsibilities regarding sanitation, patient confidentiality, and proper functioning of equipment, the document said.

Seeking a summary suspension of a pharmacy is quite rare, Winters noted. The last time it happened was a couple of years ago, involving a pharmacy in the southern part of the state.

Unanticipated Closings

Although the loss of the pharmacy manager is what pushed the state to action, the Board is definitely concerned about the "unanticipated closings" here and in other Rite-Aids around the state.

The Board noted that it had established the truth of several complaints, finding that closures "have prevented patients from obtaining prescriptions."

Another complaint surfaced in Randolph this week, from former Senior Center Director Nan Gwin, who said she is concerned especially for the elderly "who are not able to advocate for themselves."

She was unable to get service from the Randolph pharmacy last Wednesday morning, and found it closed Monday as well. She convinced Gifford Medical Center to provide important MS medications for a friend, she said.