Licensure, Registration, and Certification in Virginia
What the Board regulates
Virginia's Board of Pharmacy sits within the Department of Health Professions and issues several distinct credentials: a license to each pharmacy location, a license to each pharmacist, a registration to each pharmacy technician and pharmacy intern, and a registration to nonresident pharmacies that ship into the Commonwealth. The vocabulary itself is a favorite trap - technicians and interns are registered, not licensed, and a pharmacy's license is tied to a specific person and a specific physical place.
Concepts to know
- Pharmacist licensure: approved educational program, internship hours, NAPLEX and MPJE, criminal history/fingerprint check.
- Every pharmacy must designate a pharmacist-in-charge who is accountable for compliance, security, recordkeeping, and supervision of personnel.
- Renewal cycles, continuing education hours (including Board-mandated topic hours), practice on a lapsed license, reinstatement, and the duty to keep name and address information current.
- Grounds for Board discipline, and the difference between administrative action and criminal exposure.
Traps
Questions turn on whether a change requires a new license application versus a notification. Rule of thumb: a change of ownership or physical location requires a new license; a change of pharmacist-in-charge, home address, or corporate name is handled by notifying the Board. Another trap: letting an unregistered person perform technician tasks while an application is pending.
Worked example
A pharmacy is sold to a new corporation on Friday and keeps operating Saturday in the same building under the same sign. The new owner may not dispense on the seller's license - a new pharmacy license and a new DEA registration are required. The unchanged address does not cure the ownership change.