Dan Arendt and Joe Marchiano, legal affairs directors at the Ohio Society of Health-System Pharmacy (OSHP), were checking the affiliate's bill-tracking software last summer when they first noticed House Bill 73.
Called the Dave and Angie Patient and Health Provider Protection Act, the legislation had passed the House unanimously. According to its sponsors, the bill contained prescribing-related protections for healthcare providers and patients. Then Arendt and Marchiano read the bill.
“We said ‘Oh my goodness,’” recalled Arendt. “‘We have to do something about this immediately.’”
That marked the start of OSHP’s leadership to help prevent passage of the legislation, which would have required pharmacists to fill off-label prescriptions regardless of professional concerns about safety. House Bill 73 is strongly supported by advocates for the off-label prescribing of ivermectin for COVID-19.
Arendt and Marchiano began alerting OSHP members and quickly set up a meeting with the senator who chaired the committee first scheduled to consider the House bill.
State of the States
Every year, state legislatures make thousands of health policy decisions, including ones that affect pharmacy practice. In a new series, State of the States, ASHP News Center will profile ASHP state members and affiliates as they help shape decisions and policies important to the pharmacy workforce.
“House Bill 73 would compel pharmacists to dispense medications that could harm patients, even without evidence of potential benefits,” OSHP wrote in one letter to state senators. “This mandate would eliminate pharmacists’ ability to conduct essential drug utilization reviews, a critical step in the medication dispensing process that ensures patient safety by preventing errors.”
About a dozen OSHP members, along with members of their institutions’ government relations teams, showed up and “made it very clear to anyone in attendance how horrible the bill was,” Arendt recalled.
OSHP knew it had to show that patient safety concerns were not limited to pharmacy, said Marchiano. OSHP members reached out to nurses, physician assistants, children’s hospitals, and retail drug stores, among others. Then the affiliate convened a task force of about a dozen members to focus on House Bill 73. That task force developed testimony tool kits, filled with factual and legal critiques that allies could incorporate into their own comments.
In the end, OSHP members and other opponents of the bill generated more than 90 pieces of written testimony against the bill and three hours of verbal testimony. The legislation died in the senate committee. Arendt and Marchiano say they are hopeful HB 73 won’t come back. OSHP will continue to monitor the bill.
“There were government relations individuals there who told us that OSHP’s tool kits were what helped them,” said Arendt. “They told us this was the most united they’d ever seen all the healthcare professions be.”
OSHP helped lay the groundwork for this recent win — as well as its successfully advocacy on immunization-related legislation — by investing a few years ago in the legislation-tracking software, training members how to follow bills, and setting up regular get-togethers, such as informal “Policy and Pints” events, where members can discuss advocacy issues and learn how to get involved.
“Seeing how far we’ve gone, being in person at the capitol, being regularly in touch with aides to health committees, being regularly in touch with other professional organizations, has been awesome in a somewhat surprising way,” said Marchiano. “Frequently we get comments from members who say how much they’re excited about legal affairs and how far it’s come.”
“I was surprised at just how much of an impact we could have,” said Arendt. “If you don’t think you can have this type of impact, you’re not alone, because we didn’t either. But it happened. I think it’s been a nice wake-up call of what we can do when we’re all on the same page and working together.”
