Increasing the Pharmacy Technician-to-Pharmacist Ratio Does Not Serve Patients

I urge you to vote NO on SB 1365 to preserve pharmacy healthcare access. Community pharmacies continue to have trouble recruiting and retaining staff due to unsafe working conditions and impossible workload demands that drive profits over the safety of pharmacy staff and the public. As a result, pharmacies are closing at an alarming rate, risking more pharmacy deserts that make it harder for patients to access care for their life-saving medications. Increasing the technician ratio does nothing to alleviate the backlog of prescriptions and work in community pharmacies. Having triple the amount of techs without also adding more pharmacists creates a bottleneck effect since the pharmacist must supervise and sign off on all technician work while also performing duties that only pharmacists can perform. This bill does not help patients get their medications any faster or safer. This bill only benefits the corporate chains; it's no surprise then that they support this bill. Please vote NO on SB 1365.