Northern Light Health pursues two pharmacy expansions to meet new safety rules
Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and the Lafayette Family Cancer Center in Brewer are seeking licenses and permits to expand their pharmacies in order to meet new pharmacy regulations written by USP, an organization based in Rockville, Md., that sets food and drug quality standards.
The Bangor Daily News reported that Northern Light’s EMMC plans to spend up to $2 million at the cancer center in Brewer and up to $3 million at EMMC on the expansions that are spurred by new standards being developed by USP to minimize the risk of exposure to certain drug compounds that are deemed hazardous if not properly disposed of or handled properly.
USP reports on its website that the new regulations are expected to take effect in December 2019 and are intended to protect health care personnel, patients and the environment.
Tim Doak, director of facilities, planning and construction at Northern Light Health, the parent organization of EMMC, told the BDN the pending regulations “will impact really every hospital in the nation that has a pharmacy of some kind.”
“By and large, it will require more space for doing different things and separate spaces to store materials and larger spaces to fix materials,” he said. “As we learned about these potential rule changes, we’re proactively hoping to ensure the highest-quality service.”
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