OPPOSITION TO PHARMACY JURISPRUDENCE EXAMINATION REQUIREMENT

To advocate for the removal of standalone examination of federal or state pharmacy law as a requirement for licensure to increase interstate practice flexibility; further,

To support ongoing education of the pharmacy workforce on pertinent federal and state pharmacy laws; further,

To acknowledge that it is a professional obligation of the pharmacy workforce to practice in compliance with federal and state laws.

Rationale

National pharmacy associations have recently joined in advocacy for a more portable pharmacist license. Pharmacist interstate movement and practice are inhibited by the state-specific nature of the pharmacy jurisprudence examination. The pharmacist’s licensing process includes one clinical knowledge exam (the NAPLEX), and in 48 states a jurisprudence exam is required, typically the Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Examination (MPJE) — a 2.5-hour adaptive and proctored test. In contrast, physicians take three clinical knowledge exams, and only Texas, Oklahoma, Maine, and Oregon require a jurisprudence exam, which is taken online and is open-resource. Nurses are required to take one clinical knowledge exam (the NCLEX), and only Texas and Kentucky require a jurisprudence exam, which is also online and open-resource. A 2017 working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that pharmacists ranked among the lowest in terms of between-state migration, at -47%, compared to nurses (+5.5%) and physicians (+33%). While licensure in multiple states has always been almost a prerequisite for practitioners whose systems are in multi-state areas (e.g., VA, MD, DC), the advances in telehealth have made multistate licensure compulsory for many more pharmacists. Removal of standalone examinations would inevitably increase interstate practice flexibility.

Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education accreditation standards require pharmacy law as part of the curriculum, but student pharmacists may not practice in the state in which they receive their education, and support of ongoing education on pertinent federal and state pharmacy laws should be provided to the pharmacy workforce. Even absent the state law exams, continuing education requirements and professional responsibility require the pharmacy workforce to know the laws in the state(s) in which they are licensed.