Amend CSSB 670 by adding the following appropriately numbered SECTION to the bill and renumbering subsequent SECTIONS of the bill accordingly:

SECTION ____.  Section 562.110, Occupations Code, is amended by amending Subsections (e) and (f) and adding Subsection (f-1) to read as follows:

(e)  The board shall adopt rules regarding the use of a telepharmacy system under this section, including:

(1)  the types of health care facilities at which a telepharmacy system may be located under Subsection (d)(1), which must include the following facilities:

(A)  a clinic designated as a rural health clinic regulated under 42 U.S.C. Section 1395x(aa); [and]

(B)  a health center as defined by 42 U.S.C. Section 254b; and

(C)  a federally qualified health center as defined by 42 U.S.C. Section 1396d(l)(2)(B);

(2)  the locations eligible to be licensed as remote dispensing sites, which must include locations in medically underserved areas, areas with a medically underserved population, and health professional shortage areas determined by the United States Department of Health and Human Services;

(3)  licensing and operating requirements for remote dispensing sites, including:

(A)  a requirement that a remote dispensing site license identify the provider pharmacy that will provide pharmacy services at the remote dispensing site;

(B)  a requirement that a provider pharmacy be allowed to provide pharmacy services at not more than two remote dispensing sites;

(C)  a requirement that a pharmacist employed by a provider pharmacy make at least monthly on-site visits to a remote dispensing site or more frequent visits if specified by board rule;

(D)  a requirement that each month the perpetual inventory of controlled substances at the remote dispensing site be reconciled to the on-hand count of those controlled substances at the site by a pharmacist employed by the provider pharmacy;

(E)  a requirement that a pharmacist employed by a provider pharmacy be physically present at a remote dispensing site when the pharmacist is providing services requiring the physical presence of the pharmacist, including immunizations;

(F)  a requirement that a remote dispensing site be staffed by an on-site pharmacy technician who is under the continuous supervision of a pharmacist employed by the provider pharmacy;

(G)  a requirement that all pharmacy technicians at a remote dispensing site be counted for the purpose of establishing the pharmacist-pharmacy technician ratio of the provider pharmacy, which, notwithstanding Section 568.006, may not exceed three pharmacy technicians for each pharmacist providing supervision;

(H)  a requirement that, before working at a remote dispensing site, a pharmacy technician must:

(i)  have worked at least one year at a retail pharmacy during the three years preceding the date the pharmacy technician begins working at the remote dispensing site; and

(ii)  have completed a board-approved training program on the proper use of a telepharmacy system;

(I)  a requirement that pharmacy technicians at a remote dispensing site may not perform extemporaneous sterile or nonsterile compounding but may prepare commercially available medications for dispensing, including the reconstitution of orally administered powder antibiotics; and

(J)  any additional training or practice experience requirements for pharmacy technicians at a remote dispensing site;

(4)  the areas that qualify under Subsection (f);

(5)  recordkeeping requirements; and

(6)  security requirements.

(f)  Except as provided by Subsection (f-1), a [A] telepharmacy system located at a health care facility under Subsection (d)(1) may not be located in a community in which a Class A or Class C pharmacy is located as determined by board rule.  If a Class A or Class C pharmacy is established in a community in which a telepharmacy system has been located under this section, the telepharmacy system may continue to operate in that community.

(f-1)  A telepharmacy system located at a federally qualified health center as defined by 42 U.S.C. Section 1396d(l)(2)(B) may be located in a community in which a Class A or Class C pharmacy is located as determined by board rule.