Section 39C: Long-term care pharmacy and home infusion pharmacy
Section 39C. The board may, upon application, made in such manner and form as it shall determine, register an establishment for transacting business as a long-term care pharmacy or home infusion pharmacy, and issue to such entity as it deems qualified to conduct long-term care pharmacy or home infusion, a permit to operate. A registered entity shall be considered a retail pharmacy and not a provider of institutional, residential, or long-term care services. The board may deny such registration and refuse to issue such permit, if, in its reasonable discretion, such entity would be inconsistent with or opposed to the best interests of the public health, welfare or safety, but no such registration shall be made or permit issued in the case of a corporation, as defined in section 30 of chapter 63 unless it shall appear to the satisfaction of the board that the management of such entity is controlled solely by a registered pharmacist. Such permit shall expire on December 31 of each uneven numbered year following the date of its issue, and the fee therefore, shall be determined annually by the commissioner of administration under section 3B of chapter 7. The board, in consultation with the department of public health shall promulgate regulations pertaining to the operation of long-term care and home infusion pharmacies in the commonwealth subject to section 2 of chapter 30A. Said board shall determine which regulations, applicable to a retail drug business under section 39 shall apply to long-term care or home infusion pharmacies. The board shall, within 150 days after the filing of an application, render a final decision denying or allowing registration. Failure to render such decision, except when such failure to act is caused by the delay of the applicant, shall constitute an approval of the application and permit shall be issued. For the purposes of this section, the term long-term care pharmacy shall mean a pharmacy which dispenses pharmaceuticals, sterile intravenous drugs and nutritional products ordered by physicians to patients in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, hospice programs and similar institutional sites of care. For the purposes of this section, the term home infusion pharmacy shall mean a pharmacy which dispenses sterile intravenous drugs ordered by physicians to patients in their homes.