Licensure, Registration, and Certification
Three credentials, not one
Kentucky issues a pharmacist license, a pharmacy intern registration, and a pharmacy technician registration. Each is an individual credential requiring an application, fee, and background check, and each must be current before the holder performs any task reserved to it. Practicing on a lapsed license - even while a renewal is “in the mail” - is unlicensed practice and is a classic exam trap.
Pathways to a pharmacist license
Examination (NAPLEX plus MPJE), score transfer, and licensure by reciprocity or endorsement from another state. Intern hours must be earned while properly registered and under an approved preceptor; hours worked before registration, or by an unregistered person, do not count toward licensure.
Maintenance
Renewal, continuing education, and truthful attestation. Falsifying a CE record or a renewal application is independently disciplinable, separate from whatever practice issue prompted the audit. Keep certificates retrievable; the Board can audit.
Traps: confusing technician registration with private certification (a PTCB credential is not a Kentucky license); assuming an out-of-state intern registration transfers; assuming a pharmacist license authorizes pharmacy ownership (facility permitting is separate).
Rule of thumb: match the task to the credential to the supervision level. Final verification, counseling, drug utilization review, and any decision requiring professional judgment belong to the pharmacist. Delegable technical tasks belong to a registered technician acting under pharmacist supervision within Board ratio limits. If a task requires judgment, the answer is never “the technician.”