Connecticut General Statutes
Chapter 400j - Pharmacy
Section 20-571. (Formerly Sec. 20-184a). - Definitions.

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) “Administer” or “Administration” means the direct application of a drug or device to the body of a patient or research subject by injection, inhalation, ingestion or any other means;
(2) “Automated prescription dispensing machine” means a device and associated software operated by a pharmacy or a pharmacy that is registered as a nonresident pharmacy pursuant to section 20-627, in a nursing home or skilled nursing facility licensed pursuant to sections 19a-490 and 19a-491, that packages and labels patient-specific medication or multiple medications for the purposes of administration by a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse based on a prescription that has completed final verification by a licensed pharmacist;
(3) “Care-giving institution” means an institution that provides medical services and is licensed, operated, certified or approved by the Commissioner of Public Health, the Commissioner of Developmental Services or the Commissioner of Mental Health and Addiction Services;
(4) “Commission” means the Commission of Pharmacy appointed under the provisions of section 20-572;
(5) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Consumer Protection;
(6) “Compound” means to combine, mix or put together two or more ingredients pursuant to a prescription and includes the preparation of drugs or devices in anticipation of prescriptions based on routine, regularly-observed prescribing patterns;
(7) “Correctional or juvenile training institution” means a facility for the detention or incarceration of persons convicted or accused of crimes or offenses or for training of delinquent juveniles, including those state facilities under the jurisdiction of the Commissioner of Correction, training schools for delinquent juveniles and any other facilities operated by the state or municipalities for such detention, incarceration or training;
(8) “Device” means instruments, apparatuses and contrivances, including their components, parts and accessories, intended (A) for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease in humans or other animals, or (B) to affect the structure or any function of the body of humans or other animals, but does not mean contact lenses;
(9) “Department” means the Department of Consumer Protection;
(10) “Deprescribing” means the systematic process of identifying and discontinuing drugs in instances in which existing or potential harms outweigh existing or potential benefits within the context of an individual patient's care goals, current level of functioning, life expectancy, values and preferences;
(11) “Dispense” means those acts of processing a drug or device for delivery or for administration for a patient pursuant to a prescription consisting of: (A) Comparing the directions on the label with the directions on the prescription to determine accuracy; (B) the selection of the drug or device from stock to fill the prescription; (C) the counting, measuring, compounding or preparation of the drug or device; (D) the placing of the drug or device in the proper container; (E) the affixing of the label to the container; and (F) the addition to a written prescription of any required notations. “Dispense” does not include the acts of delivering a drug or device to a patient or of administering the drug or device to the patient;
(12) “Dispensing outpatient facility” means a facility operated by a corporation or municipality which provides medical services to patients on an outpatient basis and which maintains stocks of drugs for dispensing of drugs on a regular basis to patients for use off the premises;
(13) “Drug” means (A) an article recognized in the official United States Pharmacopoeia, official Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States or official National Formulary, or any supplement to any of them, (B) an article intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease in humans or other animals, (C) an article, other than food, intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of humans or any other animal, and (D) an article intended for use as a component of any article specified in this subdivision, but does not include a device;
(14) “Institutional pharmacy” means that area within a care-giving institution or within a correctional or juvenile training institution, commonly known as the pharmacy, that is under the direct charge of a pharmacist and in which drugs are stored and dispensed;
(15) “Legend device” means a device that is required by applicable federal or state law to be dispensed pursuant only to a prescription or is restricted to use by prescribing practitioners only or that, under federal law, is required to bear either of the following legends: (A) “RX ONLY” IN ACCORDANCE WITH GUIDELINES ESTABLISHED IN THE FEDERAL FOOD, DRUG AND COSMETIC ACT; or (B) “CAUTION: FEDERAL LAW RESTRICTS THIS DEVICE FOR USE BY OR ON THE ORDER OF A LICENSED VETERINARIAN.”;
(16) “Legend drug” means a drug that is required by any applicable federal or state law to be dispensed pursuant only to a prescription or is restricted to use by prescribing practitioners only, or means a drug that, under federal law, is required to bear either of the following legends: (A) “RX ONLY” IN ACCORDANCE WITH GUIDELINES ESTABLISHED IN THE FEDERAL FOOD, DRUG AND COSMETIC ACT; or (B) “CAUTION: FEDERAL LAW RESTRICTS THIS DRUG FOR USE BY OR ON THE ORDER OF A LICENSED VETERINARIAN.”;
(17) “Medical device and oxygen provider” means a person who distributes devices or oxygen pursuant to a medical order or prescription, except if such person already maintains an active pharmacy license;
(18) “Medication reconciliation” means a process of comparing the medications a patient is taking and should be taking with newly ordered medications (A) for the purpose of addressing duplications, omissions and interactions and the need to continue current medications, and (B) by looking at information such as the medication name, dose, frequency, route of administration and purpose;
(19) “Nonlegend device” means a device that is not a legend device;
(20) “Nonlegend drug” means a drug that is not a legend drug;
(21) “Person” means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate trust, partnership, association, joint venture or any other legal or commercial entity;
(22) “Pharmacist” means an individual who is licensed to practice pharmacy under the provisions of section 20-590, 20-591, 20-592 or 20-593, and who is thereby recognized as a health care provider by the state of Connecticut;
(23) “Pharmacy” means a place of business where drugs and devices may be sold at retail and for which a pharmacy license has been issued to an applicant under the provisions of section 20-594;
(24) “Pharmacy intern” means an individual registered under the provisions of section 20-598;
(25) “Pharmacy technician” means an individual who is registered with the department and qualified in accordance with section 20-598a;
(26) “Polypharmacy” means the use of multiple drugs by a patient, including any medication that is inappropriate or not medically necessary, such as those not indicated, not effective or constituting a therapeutic duplication;
(27) “Practice of pharmacy” or “to practice pharmacy” means the sum total of knowledge, understanding, judgments, procedures, securities, controls and ethics used by a pharmacist to assure optimal safety and accuracy in the distributing, dispensing and use of drugs and devices;
(28) “Prescribing practitioner” means an individual licensed by the state of Connecticut, any other state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States who is authorized to issue a prescription within the scope of the individual's practice;
(29) “Prescription” means a lawful order of a prescribing practitioner transmitted either orally, in writing or by electronic means for a drug or device for a specific patient;
(30) “Sale” includes barter, exchange or gift or offer and each such transaction made by a person whether as principal proprietor, agent, servant or employee;
(31) “Substitute” means to dispense without the prescribing practitioner's express authorization a different drug product than the drug product prescribed;
(32) “Third-party logistics provider” means a person who distributes drugs, devices or cosmetics while taking possession of the drugs, devices or cosmetics but who does not take title of the drugs, devices or cosmetics;
(33) “Virtual manufacturer” means a person who engages in the manufacture of drugs, devices or cosmetics for which such person: (A) Owns the new drug application or abbreviated new drug application number, if a prescription drug; (B) owns the unique device identification number, as available, for a prescription device; (C) contracts with a contract manufacturing organization for the physical manufacture of the drugs, devices or cosmetics; (D) is not involved in the physical manufacture of the drugs, devices or cosmetics; and (E) at no time takes physical possession of or stores the drugs, devices or cosmetics; and
(34) “Virtual wholesale distributor” means a person who facilitates or brokers the transfer of drugs, devices or cosmetics without taking physical possession of the drugs, devices or cosmetics.
(1969, P.A. 48, S. 1; P.A. 73-211; P.A. 78-310, S. 3; P.A. 85-241, S. 1; P.A. 86-403, S. 42, 132; P.A. 91-27, S. 2; P.A. 95-257, S. 11, 12, 21, 58; 95-264, S. 2; P.A. 98-31, S. 2; 98-120; P.A. 99-175, S. 6; P.A. 00-182, S. 5; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6, S. 146(c), (d); P.A. 04-169, S. 17; 04-189, S. 1; P.A. 07-73, S. 2 (b); P.A. 17-77, S. 7; July Sp. Sess. P.A. 20-4, S. 2; P.A. 21-192, S. 1.)
History: P.A. 73-211 defined “practice of pharmacy”; P.A. 78-310 included persons licensed by another state, the District of Columbia or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in definition of “licensed practitioner”; P.A. 85-241 deleted the definition of “administer”, redefined “legend drug” to add warning for drugs used by veterinarians and excluded agricultural food supplements from the definition of “medicine”; P.A. 86-403 made technical changes; P.A. 91-27 redefined “written prescription” to include orders described under Sec. 19a-509c; P.A. 95-257 replaced Commissioner and Department of Public Health and Addiction Services with Commissioner and Department of Public Health and replaced Commissioner and Department of Mental Health with Commissioner and Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 95-257 replaced Commissioner and Department of Public Health and Addiction Services with Commissioner and Department of Public Health and replaced Commissioner and Department of Mental Health with Commissioner and Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 95-264 replaced existing definitions with new definitions; Sec. 20-184a transferred to Sec. 20-571 in 1997; P.A. 98-31 amended Subdiv. (20) to redefine “pharmacy technician”; P.A. 98-120 amended Subdiv. (17) to redefine “pharmacist”; P.A. 99-175 made technical changes, replaced reference to Sec. 20-625 with reference to Sec. 20-630, amended Subdiv. (3) to add reference to Sec. 20-572 and amended Subdivs. (13) and (14) to change wording of required legends on legend devices and legend drugs; P.A. 00-182 amended Subdivs. (13) and (14) to make technical changes to “legend device” and “legend drug” definitions; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6 and P.A. 04-169 replaced Commissioner and Department of Consumer Protection with Commissioner and Department of Agriculture and Consumer Protection, effective July 1, 2004; P.A. 04-189 repealed Sec. 146 of June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6, thereby reversing the merger of the Departments of Agriculture and Consumer Protection, effective June 1, 2004; pursuant to P.A. 07-73 “Commissioner of Mental Retardation” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Developmental Services”, effective October 1, 2007; P.A. 17-77 added new Subdiv. (15) defining medical device and oxygen provider, redesignated existing Subdivs. (15) to (25) as Subdivs. (16) to (26), added Subdiv. (27) defining third-party logistics provider, added Subdiv. (28) defining virtual manufacturer and added Subdiv. (29) defining virtual wholesale distributor, and made technical changes, effective July 1, 2017; July Sp. Sess. P.A. 20-4 added new Subdiv. (16) defining nonlegend device and redesignated existing Subdivs. (16) to (29) as Subdivs. (17) to (30), effective January 1, 2021; P.A. 21-192 amended introductory language to change reference from Secs. 20-570 to 20-630 to “this chapter”, amended Subdiv. (1) by adding “or Administration”, added new Subdiv. (2) defining “automated prescription dispensing machine”, redesignated existing Subdivs. (2) to (8) as Subdivs. (3) to (9), added new Subdiv. (10) defining “deprescribing”, redesignated existing Subdivs. (9) to (15) as Subdivs. (11) to (17), added new Subdiv. (18) defining “medication reconciliation”, redesignated existing Subdivs. (16) to (22) as Subdivs. (19) to (25), added new Subdiv. (26) defining “polypharmacy” and redesignated existing Subdivs. (23) to (30) as Subdivs. (27) to (34), effective July 13, 2021.

Structure Connecticut General Statutes