Texas pharmacy board votes Tuesday on a telehealth consent rule the drugstore chains want narrowed

The Texas State Board of Pharmacy takes a final vote Tuesday on a new telehealth consent rule for pharmacists. It is the board’s second try: it withdrew the same rule in May after the big drugstore chains objected. They are objecting again. Anyone who wants to speak must register by 5 p.m. Friday.

The rule would require a pharmacist to make sure a patient has consented to treatment, data collection and data sharing before any telehealth service, by video or by phone alone. Verbal consent must be logged with the initials of whoever took it, kept two years, and produced within 72 hours if a board investigator asks. The fight is not about the paperwork. It is about reach. The rule uses the state’s broad definition of telehealth: any service a licensed professional delivers to a patient somewhere else, by phone or other technology. Chain pharmacists say that sweeps in an ordinary call about a refill.

The first version drew comments in the spring from CVS Health and from Albertsons Companies, which runs 194 Texas pharmacies. Both wanted routine calls about filling a prescription left out. The board withdrew the rule in May, then re-proposed it in June with softer wording: a pharmacist must ensure consent is obtained rather than obtain it, and an employee may take it. The reach did not change.

So the same objection came back from a wider group. Aimee Lusson, a Walgreens regional vice president who also heads the Texas Federation of Drug Stores, wrote on July 27 that the 2025 law behind the rule “addressed the form of consent, not the services that constitute telehealth.” Doug Read, H-E-B’s pharmacy compliance director, said counseling is already required in Texas, and that asking for consent before telling a patient whether a drug can be taken with food creates “operational nightmares.” Ronald Richardson, a Houston compounding pharmacist, backs the rule but wants a consent to stay good until the patient revokes it. The packet posted for Tuesday holds the letters and no staff answer.

The rest of the agenda is thinner. The board also votes on amendments letting a pharmacy stay closed up to 90 days after a fire or flood only if the pharmacist in charge reports it within 10 days, and letting students take the state jurisprudence exam before graduating. Members elect a vice president and treasurer for one-year terms, an item that runs every August. Two disciplinary matters — pharmacist Nouf Khalid Alkahtani and Natural Health Pharmacy — reach the board as proposals for decision from a state administrative law judge, which it may accept, reject or modify. Those documents are not public, and the allegations should not be characterized without them.

Meeting at a glance

Board members

• Julie Spier, R.Ph., Katy — President; pharmacist member, term to 2029.
• Donna Montemayor, R.Ph., San Antonio — Vice President; pharmacist, to 2031.
• Donnie Lewis, R.Ph., Athens — Treasurer; pharmacist member, to 2031.
• Rick Fernandez, R.Ph., Argyle — pharmacist member, to 2029.
• Heisha Freeman, Fate — public member, to 2029.
• Stacy Hightower, Ph.T.R., Aubrey — pharmacy technician member, to 2031.
• Randy Martin, Pharm.D., R.Ph., Fort Worth — pharmacist member, to 2029.
• Ian Shaw, Dallas — public member, to 2027.
• Suzette Tijerina, R.Ph., Castle Hills — pharmacist member, to 2027.
• Rick Tisch, Spring — public member, to 2031.
• Jenny Downing Yoakum, R.Ph., Kilgore — pharmacist member, to 2027.

Roster: TSBP Board Members. Terms are from the board’s FY2027–2031 Strategic Plan; two bio pages carry stale dates. Staff: Daniel Carroll, Pharm.D., R.Ph., Executive Director/Secretary; Eamon D. Briggs, Deputy General Counsel, takes written rule comments.