The General Assembly recently changed Ohio law so that the executive director of
the State Board of Pharmacy
no longer need be a licensed pharmacist.
Executive directors of some of Ohio's 20-plus occupational boards must be licensed members of the profession his or her board regulates. But that's not required of all executive directors. For example, Ohio doesn't require
the State Medical Board's executive director to be a physician.
It's clear Gov.
John Kasich's administration wanted Ohio law changed so a nonpharmacist could lead the Pharmacy Board's staff, something first proposed when the administration drafted the mid-biennium budget bill, House Bill 483.
For whatever reason, that didn't stay in HB 483. But the House inserted the proposal in another measure,
Amended Substitute Senate Bill 230, and passed the amended bill 88-6. The Senate concurred, and
Kasich signed the bill June 17.
The
Ohio Pharmacists Association believes the state should have kept requiring the Pharmacy Board's executive director to be a pharmacist, given the complex rules the panel enforces. That's a fair point. But considering that the Medical Board staff is led by nondoctors, it's hard to see why similar management would imperil the Pharmacy Board.
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