Pharmacy Professional Practice Pharmacist in Charge

Overview

The Pharmacist-in-Charge (PIC) provides professional, operational, and regulatory leadership for a long-term care pharmacy serving facilities and residents across multiple states. The PIC is accountable for ensuring that pharmacy operations comply with all applicable federal and state laws, regulations, Board of Pharmacy requirements, controlled-substance requirements, organizational policies, and professional standards of pharmacy practice.

The PIC oversees the safe, accurate, timely, and compliant acquisition, storage, preparation, verification, dispensing, distribution, delivery, return, and disposal of medications. The position provides oversight to pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and other employees and promotes a culture of medication safety, regulatory readiness, operational excellence, and continuous quality improvement.

Because the pharmacy serves facilities in multiple states, the PIC works closely with Pharmacy Compliance, Licensing, Clinical Services, Quality, Medication Safety, Controlled Substance Compliance, Information Technology, Human Resources, and regional operational leadership to ensure that the pharmacy and its personnel meet the requirements of each jurisdiction in which services are provided.

Schedule: Monday-Friday 8 hours during daytime hours. Occasional evening and weekends, if required by the pharmacy.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the pharmacist identified as PIC, pharmacist manager, responsible pharmacist, or equivalent designation with the pharmacy's resident-state Board of Pharmacy.
• Ensure compliance with all federal, state, DEA, and Board of Pharmacy requirements.
• Maintain accountability for controlled substance procurement, storage, inventory, recordkeeping, and diversion prevention.
• Lead medication safety, quality assurance, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Lead regulatory inspections, including DEA, Board of Pharmacy, and other inspections required for business needs (NABP, etc.).
• Cooperate with inspections, audits, investigations, subpoenas, record requests, and inquiries from Boards of Pharmacy, DEA, CMS, state agencies, payers, accreditation organizations, and other authorized entities.
• Ensure pharmacy readiness for inspections, audits, surveys, and regulatory reviews.
• Implement and enforce pharmacy policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements across all states served.
• Obtain and maintain additional pharmacist licenses, registrations, or credentials required by states in which the pharmacy operates or provides services.
• Ensure the pharmacy maintains all required resident and nonresident pharmacy licenses, permits, registrations, controlled-substance credentials, and other regulatory approvals.
• Maintain awareness of applicable federal and state pharmacy laws, Board of Pharmacy rules, DEA requirements, and regulatory guidance.
• Evaluate regulatory changes and coordinate timely implementation of required operational, policy, system, staffing, or documentation changes.
• Ensure corrective action plans arising from inspections, audits, medication events, or compliance reviews are implemented, documented, monitored, and sustained.
• Maintain accountability for controlled substance procurement, storage, distribution, inventory, reconciliation, destruction, and recordkeeping.
• Ensure completion of required inventories, DEA documentation, CSOS management, and Power of Attorney administration.
• Investigate and report controlled substance discrepancies, losses, thefts, or diversion concerns.
• Support diversion prevention initiatives and ongoing controlled substance monitoring programs.
• Verify that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are properly licensed, registered, certified, or otherwise authorized before performing services affecting patients in a particular state.
• Ensure that pharmacy personnel (pharmacy technicians, interns, etc.) training is completed and documented appropriately.
• Ensure state-specific requirements are incorporated into pharmacy workflows, policies, training programs, dispensing systems, and quality controls.
• Establish controls to prevent dispensing errors, mis-fills, labeling errors, delivery failures, duplicate therapy, inappropriate substitutions, and unauthorized medication access.

Qualifications

Education/Licensing Required:

• PharmD or BS Pharmacy from an accredited school of pharmacy.
• Current, unrestricted pharmacist license in the state of Washington, resident state of the pharmacy.
• Ability to obtain and maintain additional state pharmacist licenses as required.

Preferred:

• Current, unrestricted pharmacist licenses in following states: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
• Advanced law degree with a concentration in healthcare, pharmacy, or regulatory law.

Work Experience Required:

• Minimum five years of pharmacy experience serving as a PIC.