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1996 SESSION

966375364
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 158
Offered January 22, 1996
Establishing a select committee of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committee on Education and Health to study the demise of the Commonwealth's independent pharmacies.
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Patrons-- Davies, Cranwell, Crouch, Dickinson, Hall, Hargrove, Heilig, Morgan, Moss, Nixon, Ruff, Shuler, Watkins and Woodrum; Senators: Benedetti, Earley, Hawkins, Holland, Miller, K.G., Miller, Y.B. and Potts
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Referred to Committee on Rules
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WHEREAS, the local pharmacy has been the mainstay of health advice for the citizens of the Commonwealth since colonial days; and

WHEREAS, traditionally, privately-owned local pharmacies have been and still are often family-operated businesses, handed down through generations of related pharmacists who have an intimate understanding of and involvement in the day-to-day lives of their neighbors and friends; and

WHEREAS, the pharmacists operating these local pharmacies have met the changing health-care needs of citizens by continuing to provide advice, experience, and dedicated concern at a time when an emphasis on personal service seems to be disappearing; and

WHEREAS, throughout the Commonwealth, particularly in rural areas with limited access to physicians, the local pharmacists serve as a primary source of health counseling to many people who would otherwise go unserved; and

WHEREAS, the number of independent pharmacies has decreased dramatically in recent years and continues to decline, from approximately 1050 to approximately 465 over ten years, as reported in the 1995 Report of the Joint Subcommittee Studying the Financial Impact of Third-Party Reimbursement on the Commonwealth's Pharmacies; and

WHEREAS, the decline in independent pharmacies threatens extinction of this valuable community resource, the disappearance of which would endanger the health and lives of thousands of Virginians who depend on their local pharmacists to apprise them of drug interactions, potential adverse drug reactions, and increasingly complicated drug protocols; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That a select committee of the House Committee on Health, Welfare, and Institutions and the Senate Committee on Education and Health be established to study the demise of the Commonwealth's independent pharmacies. The select committee shall consist of seven members as follows: four members of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions to be appointed by the Speaker of the House and three members of the Senate Committee on Education and Health to be appointed by the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections.

The direct costs of this study shall not exceed $ 3,150.

All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the select committee, upon request.

The select committee shall complete its work in time to submit its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the 1997 Session of the General Assembly as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for processing legislative documents.

Implementation of this resolution is subject to subsequent approval and certification by the Joint Rules Committee. The Committee may withhold expenditures or delay the period for the conduct of the study.