State sanctions Walgreens pharmacy in NLV

Michelle Swafford

Monday, July 25, 2005 | 11:06 a.m.

The Nevada State Board of Pharmacy imposed a series of sanctions Wednesday against a local Walgreens pharmacy and its parent company.

The state Board of Pharmacy found the Walgreens pharmacy at 2280 Las Vegas Blvd. North in North Las Vegas to be in violation of several sections of the state's law and administrative code for failing to counsel patients on their prescriptions. The board also found two of the pharmacists employed there to be in violation of state regulations.

The North Las Vegas pharmacy was fined $5,000 -- and will pay an undetermined amount of investigation and prosecution costs -- and its probation was extended by one year, Board of Pharmacy Lawyer Louis Ling said.

In addition, the pharmacy must perform an internal audit using the Institute of Safe Medicine Practices tool and provide three hours of patient counseling and error prevention training to its pharmacy technicians, Ling said.

Walgreens pharmacists Dale Hawkins and Vy Tran were ordered to pay fines and take continuing education classes. Hawkins was fined $250 and ordered to take three additional hours of continuing education regarding error prevention, while Tran was fined $750 and required to take three additional education hours on patient counseling, Ling said.

Hawkins was accused of filling a prescription and dispensing it to the wrong patient, while Tran was accused of failing to counsel that patient on the new prescription and failing to provide a record that counseling was provided for that prescription, according the state Board of Pharmacy accusation.

Walgreen Co. was accused of failing to counsel the patient on the new prescriptions and failing to keep a record of those prescriptions on the pharmacy's counseling log, according to the accusation.

The state Board of Pharmacy also ordered pharmacy board staff to retain an outside medical auditing firm to examine pharmacy records and practices at the North Las Vegas Walgreens and three other Walgreens that have been disciplined for not counseling patients or not documenting patient counseling, Ling said.

Quarterly reports must be filed with the state Board of Pharmacy for one year and Walgreen Co. will be responsible for the audit costs, he said.

Walgreens spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce said the company had not received a copy of the Nevada board's action so she could not comment on the specifics of the case.

But, she added, Walgreens has "addressed the issues that were raised."

"It sounds like an isolated incident that has been addressed and patients can feel confident that their needs will be met and that they will receive the counseling that they want and need from a Walgreens pharmacist," Bruce said. "As always, patient safety is a top priority."