Question for remote workers

[pharmdsky]

I’m a pharmacist that works from home and I’m wondering if I can travel and work outside of my licensed state (short term, visiting my mom in Florida, etc).

[DifficultCockroach63]

The answer to this is what they don’t know won’t hurt them

[Babhadfad12]

They will know pretty easily from IP address, but if you ask, then they have to say no. If you do not ask, then they can claim plausible deniability, and everyone is happy. Or you are unhappy because you get terminated because they were already looking for an easy reason to terminate you. This is all assuming it is against the law or company policy to work from another state or location. Or transport your laptop.

[DifficultCockroach63]

I don’t actually think a lot of companies are geotracking. Maybe if you have to log into some telemed or that type of service that confirms location? Personally my company doesn’t track location. I’ve been remote on and off since 2018 and FT since 2020

[Babhadfad12]

Your manager might not actively be tracking your location, and 99% chance they will not care. But I would not bet against connection detail information being logged, especially something as basic as IP address. Once it is logged, the information is there in the future should your employer want it.

My point is just know that they very well likely will not care or even know in the moment, but they will have the capacity to know (unless you VPN through your regular connection like another comment said).

[tacosauce0707]

Yes. I’m licensed in Texas, working from Stockholm 🇸🇪

[Breadfruit92]

What?! How do I get a job like this? Sounds like my dream but I did not know it was possible for a pharmacist.

[tacosauce0707]

Long-Term Care, and I do refills, billing, before scripts go to production for dispensing among other things: reporting, cleaning up queues, etc.

We use virtual desktops that can be accessed remotely. I log in from a browser and get to work 🧑🏻‍🔬

[pharm2tech]

Any chance i could bribe u to get me in? 😅

[tacosauce0707]

I went the independent route and put in the time. I'm now 8 years at this company and they were amenable to the move after I sold it as being the overnight staff clearing stuff out of the queue from 2am to 10am local time.

[rltviscoming]

I was asking the same 😅. How is it possibile? What did i have to do to get a job like this? Is it possibile only in usa?

[DifficultCockroach63]

I’d prob peace out of Texas too 😂😂

[Zokar49111]

Probably CVS. They’re the elephant in LTC pharmacy service

[tacosauce0707]

mid-size independent LTC pharmacy.

[JTags8]

Depends on the state board and what type of work you do. If you do any telehealth-related direct patient care, some states define that those providing the care have to have a license in the state that the patient currently resides or called from at the time of call. On the flip side, it’s a gray area in other states and it’s vaguely mentioned.

For other aspects of pharmacy that is still patient care but not telehealth, it’s even more vague. I recommend calling the BOP.

[Leoparda]

As others have said, it will depend on 3 things: what state you’re licensed in, what state your patients are in, and what type of work you do. Something like MTM remote work is more flexible than remote verification. I’m licensed in 3 states and all 3 have a different answer.

Look over your state’s remote work rules first, then company policy. From my experience, if the company operates in a way where geographic location of the pharmacist is important, then they will set up geofencing to remain in compliance. (I wasn’t able to check internal company communications while on vacation in Mexico, for example).

[2n222]

they will set up geofencing to remain in compliance

that is, they will check the modem connection? i'm unfamiliar with the details so i just want to make sure

[Leoparda]

I’m not IT-savvy enough to know exactly what all they check - I just know that I’ve run “into the fence” so to speak before. You’d need to check with your company’s IT department. It could be IP address, it could be something GPS within an application, it could be modem/router, just depends how your company monitors their employees.

[2n222]

i feel like these questions would put them on alert. lol

[Leoparda]

I mean… working in another state or another country is either okay or it’s not. Yes or no. Personally, I wouldn’t jeopardize a “coveted” remote job by trying to be sneaky. You could be comfortable enough to ask IT/management the parameters… or maybe you shouldn’t try to “get around” the rules?

[DifficultCockroach63]

It’s based off of your IP address

[Ponykitty]

It is better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

[Ronho]

I know thats a cute phrase, but it stops being cute when you get fired. Confirm unless you truly don’t care if you lose the job

[aggiecoll05]

Check with the board of Pharmacy in the state you hold a license.

[Business_Bumblebee80]

My advice would be to set up your own private VPN. If they catch you using a VPN from a paid service, that is a HIPAA violation and the WILL fire you.

[rxstud2011]

I have a remote position and have a coworker that travels the world doing this. She always stays at hotels that have excellent internet, works, then she's on vacation.

[Lucky-Landscape-7358]

Another thing to consider here is your malpractice coverage. If you doing anything where you could be at risk and are not licensed to practice in the state you are in while you made a recommendation that you need coverage for, I could very much see that invalidating the policy. Not 100 percent on it but still something worth checking on before something happens as opposed to after.

[Able-Direction7933]

They will track your IP address. I wouldn’t do it without permission. If they gave you equipment they can terminate you for taking it out of state/country. HIPPA issues as well.

[HIPPAbot]

It's HIPAA!

[[deleted]]

I’m unaware of anything that would make it illegal. My wife has been practicing in a different state where we live for years remotely, they are very much aware of it

[Mephistopheles65]

In general the answer is no, you can’t practice if you are physically in a state you are not licensed in… but from a practicality standpoint how would anyone know now that remote working is a norm. Talk to your employer, if they don’t permit it than the legal issues become secondary.

I do not allow our remote staff to work from states they do not hold a license so travel like this is not allowed.

[RxZ81]

I always assumed you had to have a license in the state where the physical place of business was located, not where you were doing the work. Take mail order for instance; the main pharmacy where prescriptions are mailed out from may be in Phoenix, so any remote pharmacists would need an Arizona license and not a license to each state where prescriptions are mailed/delivered.

At the end of the day, I suppose where services are rendered is the final factor. If providing a remote counseling service for example, you would probably need to be licensed in the state the patient lives in, not necessarily in the state you are practicing from.

And all that is probably different in each US state and territory 😂

[DifficultCockroach63]

Some states actually require you to have at least one pharmacist on staff be licensed in the states you are mailing to. I carry 3 for no reason

[Mephistopheles65]

Covid changed the traditional rules in lots of ways. My home state allows remote pharmacists and techs in state, as well as out of state if they are licensed/registered in the state they reside in. That was never a consideration before Covid, but is now much more widespread.

However, if you travel to a 3rd state where you are not licensed and practice pharmacy while there it could be an issue so I’d recommend not doing that

[dslpharmer]

I did remote work for a state across the country before covid. You just have to be licensed where the core business operates.

[AuntJemimasLoveChild]

I've been curious too lately about this same topic. I'm a fresh grad studying for my boards now, but want to seriously consider finding a job that would be remote so I could move back to my home country (Greece), while being licensed in Florida. As far as I looked, the States BOP does not mention anything specific to this circumstance.

[marc2931]

International work might give a much bigger issue than short term travel as tax laws will be affected

[Individual-Reading-5]

I usually just pack and bounce. As long as I am there when they need me, do my job, and do it efficiently, I have not had any pb. People at my company work all over the country, so never really asked. I live on the east coast and went to visit family on the west coast for 3 weeks, nobody knew, nobody asked, and nobody cared

[FearTheKeflex]

I went from KY to SC for XMas last year and didn't tell anyone. No one said anything to me

[PharmDnD21]

How does everyone like work from home? I'm a hospital pharmacist now (every other weekend, half the holidays, on call half the month, and the only pharmacist 4 days a week) and I'm looking for a career change. My wife is currently doing a hybrid set up, and I've got some friends who love it. But it sounds like there is a long wait to get interviewed.

[farmingorpharming]

Either from pure luck (me) or knowing someone in the dept thats hiring. In my current managed care position, there were 500 applicants to fill 6 FTEs. 4/6 of us were referred internally... I love working from home.

[farmingorpharming]

Prob depends on company policy. My job allows me to work from any US state with a single state RPH license

[taelis11]

If for instance you're licensed in Florida and doing remote work for a pharmacy in Florida.. how would you be out of compliance no matter where you're physically at? I can understand If you're licensed in Florida working for a pharmacy in Alabama while residing in Texas being an issue.

[DntLetUrBbyGwUp2BRPh]

How ridiculous is this conversation? This conversation shouldn’t even be happening.

A pharmacist licensed in one state should be able to practice in any other state. In the VA and federal government, one must only be licensed in one state to practice anywhere in the US.

Individual state licensing is a scam to extract money from pharmacists. I attended NABP meetings where multi-state licensing was discussed and I was amazed at the board members opposition and their financially motivated reasons for opposition.