18.1 Pharmacy License, Hours, Manager, and Signage

Why the store license is its own MPJE subject

Quick Answer: A pharmacy license under CGS § 20-594 is the facility credential. CGS § 20-601 charges $750 to issue it and $190 to renew it. DCP’s pharmacy-license page expires every pharmacy license annually on August 31. Moving the pharmacy terminates the old license (§ 20-594(e)). Ownership or name changes are immediate-notice events with a $90 filing fee and a $50 late fee if you miss ten days (§ 20-597(d), § 20-601(7)). Open at least 35 hours per week (RCSA § 20-576-13). A nonlegend-drug permit is a different piece of paper.

NABP Competency 4.7.1–4.7.2 tests whether you can open, renew, and label a pharmacy as a place of business. Chapter 3 already taught the pharmacist license (January 31, different fee) and the pharmacist manager rule (CGS § 20-597(b): full-time at that pharmacy; no pharmacist may manage more than one pharmacy at the same time). This section does not reopen that one-pharmacy cap. It asks what the store itself must hold, pay, post, and keep open.

Do not mix three Connecticut credentials: the pharmacist certificate, the pharmacy (PCY) license, and a nonlegend-drug permit. Inspectors and exam writers mix them on purpose.

Application and issuance — CGS § 20-594

§ 20-594(a) (as amended by P.A. 23-19) lets a pharmacist, a health care institution, or any other person apply to the Commission for a pharmacy license or a renewal, except as limited by the prescriber-ownership rule in § 20-596.

§ 20-594(b) is the statutory application checklist. Disclose:

• the name and address of the applicant and of the owner of the pharmacy;
• the name and street and mailing address of the pharmacy; and
• the name, address, and license number of the pharmacist who manages the pharmacy.

The commissioner may require additional information by regulation. DCP’s in-state pharmacy-license page currently adds operational attachments the inspector will look for before the Commission votes:

• blueprints with the prescription-department boundaries marked;
• a copy of the pharmacy label; and
• specifications of the safe (Connecticut’s CII-safe overlay from Chapter 16 is why that attachment exists).

DCP’s same page states the prerequisites: appear before the Commission of Pharmacy and undergo a Drug Control Division inspection. § 20-594(c) then splits issuance from renewal. For a new pharmacy, DCP issues the license on authorization of the Commission, on payment of the § 20-601 fee, and on satisfactory evidence that the pharmacy will be managed by a pharmacist and operated in accordance with the general statutes and regulations. Renewal is on application and payment of the renewal fee. § 20-594(d) says pharmacy licenses expire annually and may be renewed for a period not to exceed one year.

DCP implements that annual clock as August 31. Keep that date off the pharmacist January 31 calendar taught in section 3.4.

Fees you must not swap with a pharmacist license

CGS § 20-601 collects nonrefundable fees. The pharmacy-facility lines that this chapter owns are:

Late renewal of a pharmacy license uses the § 21a-4 late fee referenced in § 20-601(5). That is not the $50 ten-day change-notice late fee. Do not add the two together and invent a third number.

The relocation trap — CGS § 20-594(e)

When a pharmacy is transferred to a new location, the pharmacy license for that pharmacy shall terminate. The terminated license may be renewed under subsection (d) if the Commission is satisfied the new site will be pharmacist-managed and lawfully operated. DCP’s change page prices change of location at $190 and still requires the new-or-relocation checklist, inspection, and Commission process.

That sentence is the classic MPJE miss. Candidates treat a two-block move like a printer change: “same PCY number, just update the letterhead.” Connecticut kills the old license. You do not pack CII stock overnight and open Monday on a new street under the old wall certificate. You reapply / renew for the new location, wait for inspection and authorization, and only then move drug stock under a lawful transfer. Ownership change at the same address is § 20-597(d) notice, not an automatic termination — unless the stem is actually a new location.

§ 20-594(f) (P.A. 19-177) is a related reporting clock: each licensed pharmacy shall report to DCP any administrative or legal action commenced against it by a state or federal regulator or accreditation entity not later than ten business days after receiving notice. That is a facility-file duty, not a personal CE form.

Manager, hours, and what must hang on the wall

CGS § 20-597(a) forbids operating the place as a pharmacy unless a pharmacy license has been issued and a pharmacist is on the premises providing direct supervision, except to the extent regulations allow the front store to remain open with the prescription department closed. § 20-597(b) then layers the pharmacist manager: full-time at that pharmacy, listed on the § 20-594 application or enrolled under subsection (c), and one pharmacy only. Chapter 3 owns the 16-day / 42-day absence rule and the first-time-manager interview. Do not answer a Chapter 18 stem by inventing a regional PIC.

RCSA § 20-576-13 is the hours floor this competency restates: a pharmacy shall be open at least thirty-five hours per week, except as otherwise authorized in the classes of pharmacies regulations. Sterile and non-sterile compounding pharmacies share that floor unless the Commission waives it. A 28-hour community store with no class authorization or waiver fails the regulation. A pandemic-era executive-order waiver is not current law.

CGS § 20-609(a) requires the pharmacy license to be conspicuously posted within the pharmacy. That is the facility certificate. The pharmacist’s personal certificate stays available for inspection under § 20-607; it is not a second required wall hanging (Chapter 3).

DCP’s Signage Requirements for Pharmacies page (December 4, 2025) lists signs required in all licensed pharmacies. Pharmacies may use DCP samples or equivalent signs that meet the statute or regulation:

• Storage and disposal of prescription drugs — CGS § 20-636
• Substitution of generic drugs / interchangeable biologics — CGS § 20-619(g); sample 18" × 24", letters at least 1 inch tall
• Prescription errors (quality-assurance reporting) — CGS § 20-635(b); at least 8.5" × 11"
• Pharmacist manager name and title — RCSA § 20-576-21 (posted in or next to the prescription department)
• Pharmacy hours — RCSA § 20-576-19; DCP’s sample uses block letters at least 1/2 inch tall (the regulation’s letter-height rule for posting hours of the prescription department)

A pharmacy that never substitutes still posts the § 20-619(g) sign. The sign is about what the pharmacy may be able to do, not a confession that every fill is a generic.

Nonlegend-drug permit versus pharmacy license

CGS § 20-623 forbids retail sale of a nonlegend drug except at a pharmacy, or at a store or in a vending machine owned by a business that holds a permit to sell nonlegend drugs under § 20-624. A supermarket, gas station, or kiosk with that permit may sell OTC acetaminophen. It may not operate a prescription department. CGS § 20-580 is how the Commission revokes or suspends a nonlegend permit. Do not tell the exam that a § 20-624 permit is a cheaper § 20-594 pharmacy license, and do not tell it that a licensed pharmacy needs a second nonlegend permit to sell toothpaste next to the waiting area.

Realistic Connecticut scenario

A chain buys a Hartford independent on a Friday and plans to move it into a newly built pad site on Monday, keeping the old PCY number on the bags “because ownership already filed the $90 notice.” The ownership filing under § 20-597(d) does not save the location. § 20-594(e) terminated the license when the pharmacy left the old address. Opening the pad site without a renewed, inspected, Commission-authorized license is unlicensed pharmacy operation. A grocery next door with a § 20-624 permit that starts filling lisinopril “because we already sell ibuprofen” has the same problem from the other direction.

Official anchors

• CGS § 20-594 — application contents, issuance, annual expiration, location transfer terminates the license.
• CGS § 20-601 — $750 / $190; $90 / $50 ten-day change fees.
• DCP Pharmacy License within Connecticut — August 31, $750 / $190, Commission appearance, Drug Control inspection.
• DCP Signage Requirements (December 4, 2025).
• RCSA § 20-576-13 — 35 hours per week.