Board of Pharmacy asks committee to extend legal funds and expand spending authority for enforcement and PMP

The Minnesota Board of Pharmacy asked the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Jan. 28 to allow the board to continue spending previously appropriated legal funds and to raise its ongoing spending authority to keep up with staffing, information-technology and regulatory costs.

“Thank you, Chair Wiklendt, Chair Auty, and members of the committee. My name is Doctor Katrina Howard and I am the deputy director at the Board of Pharmacy,” Deputy Director Katrina Howard said in her opening remarks. The board said it is a small agency with 23 employees that serves more than 26,000 licensees and registrants.

The board described two linked requests: first, an extension of a one-time $1.5 million general fund appropriation currently set to expire June 30, 2025. Those monies were approved in fiscal 2024 and are being used for legal expenses connected to a 2020 lawsuit (Pharma v. Williams); the board asked for permission to continue using the remaining balance through fiscal 2027, saying litigation costs are expected to continue but that it is not seeking new funds. Howard said the change is “to continue using the remaining funds from the original appropriation through fiscal year 27, as legal expenses are expected to continue into the next biennium.”

Second, the board requested increased annual spending authority of approximately $1.2 million to maintain operations and meet current demands. The board explained that fixed expenses — notably staff compensation, rent and IT costs — consumed about 84% of the operational appropriation in FY25 and would exceed 90% in FY26 without more authority. The board broke the $1.2 million request into three parts: $905,000 to maintain operations and cover state IT cost increases; $227,000 to enable backfilling a critical pharmacist/VEGA position; and $142,000 to hire a nonclinical investigative senior to improve complaint investigations. The board also requested an additional $150,000 annual increase for the Minnesota Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) to preserve an integration license that allows PMP data to be embedded in clinical software and to remove initiation and recurring fees for health care facilities.

“We have over 37,000 active account holders including physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and dentists,” Brock Reid, controlled substance reporting section director, said of the PMP. Reid told the committee PMP use has grown to more than 7 million unique searches in 2024, with about 70% of usage via integrated access. The board said continuing the statewide integration license is critical to keep that functionality available and to reduce barriers to clinical integration.

Senators asked why the board needed continuing legal authority when the Attorney General’s Office also received recent appropriations. Howard clarified that the board is not seeking new money but an extension of the period during which it can spend the appropriation the legislature already provided in fiscal 2024. Committee members generally expressed concern about rising legal costs and asked about coordination with the Attorney General’s Office, which serves as the board’s legal counsel.

Ending: The committee did not act on the requests; pharmacy officials said they will follow up with any additional information committee members request.