The initial step in the reciprocal licensure process is to submit a reciprocal licensure application to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP).  Once NABP processes your application, you must obtain a copy of the processed application from NABP and upload that processed application to your Pennsylvania pharmacist license application.  Do not upload your NABP receipt nor should you think that the Board office staff will obtain the application for you.  It is your responsibility to obtain from NABP a copy of the processed NABP reciprocal licensure application and upload that processed NABP reciprocal licensure application to your Pennsylvania pharmacist license application. 

License verifications are required from any states/jurisdictions where you hold or have ever held a health-related professional license, registration, authorization, or permit to practice. Verifications are required regardless of the current status of the license and must be sent directly to the PA Board from the other licensing agencies.

• A reciprocal licensure application processed by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) will already contain licensure verifications for your pharmacist licenses; these are valid for six months from the date that NABP processed the reciprocal licensure application.   
• The reciprocal licensure application will not include license verifications for other health-related professional licenses, registrations, authorizations or permits to practice.  You must arrange for license verifications to be sent directly to the PA Board from the appropriate licensing agency for these other licenses, registrations, authorizations, and permits, including any pharmacy intern and/or pharmacy technician licenses/registrations and any authorization to administer injectables.  Be sure that you list these other license types and the state that issued these license types when answering the questions on your Pennsylvania pharmacist license application. 
• The Board does NOT need to receive verification if the license, certificate, permit, registration or other authorization to practice any health-related profession was issued by one of the licensing boards within the Pennsylvania Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs. 

Applicants must have graduated with a Pharm.D. or a B.S. in Pharmacy from a school of pharmacy accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education or, if you are a graduate of a foreign pharmacy school, you must have FPGEC certification from NABP. The NABP reciprocal licensure application will include information on your education and/or FPGEC certification.

The Board requires completion of at least 1,500 acceptable intern hours. Your NABP reciprocal licensure application will include general information on intern hours and a limited work history.

• All 1,500 intern hours may be earned through a Pharm.D. program at a school of pharmacy accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE).   
• For applicants who have FPGEC certification or who earned a B.S. in Pharmacy from an ACPE-accredited school of pharmacy, at least 500 of the 1,500 intern hours must be earned outside of school and in a licensed pharmacy.   
• If you are unable to demonstrate that you have met the intern hours requirements, the Board may be able  to  accept  the  full-time practice of pharmacy for one year in another U.S. state  or  the completion of a one-year pharmacy residency program in the U.S. in lieu of the required intern hours.  In order for the Board to consider a pharmacy residency program in lieu of documented intern hours, please submit your application with a detailed description of your completed residency program.  This description should include, at a minimum, the  residency  program’s  start  and  end  dates, the  average  number of  hours  worked per week, and information on the activities in which you engaged on a daily basis (ex. pharmaceutical dispensing, compounding, patient counseling, drug therapy monitoring, drug therapy management, drug regimen review, etc.).   The residency program information may be uploaded to an application only after the residency program has been successfully completed; do not provide this information prior to program completion. 
• If the limited work history listed on your NABP reciprocal licensure application does not demonstrate the full-time practice of pharmacy for at least one year (in lieu of the required intern hours), you are welcome to provide additional information on your employment history by uploading to your PA pharmacist license application a detailed resume. 

Most applicants must take the Pennsylvania Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Examination (MPJE).

• You must take the PA MPJE if you obtained your initial license after January 26, 1983 and you did not pass the FDLE for the license which is the basis of your license transfer.  
• If you were licensed prior to January 26, 1983, you do not have to take the Pennsylvania MPJE.   
• If you were licensed after January 26, 1983 but you have taken and passed the FDLE for the license which is the basis of your license transfer, you do not have to take the Pennsylvania MPJE.  The FDLE exam with a passing score must be included on your NABP reciprocal licensure application. 

If you must take the Pennsylvania MPJE, please register to take the exam at the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy’s web site.  You must register to take the exam before you can be authorized to take it.    

PLEASE NOTE - Applications are processed in the order they are received. Please submit your application as soon as possible.

Some of the documents associated with your application are valid for only six months, such as your response to legal questions, your license verifications, your criminal history record check(s) and your National Practitioner Data Bank Self-Query. It is to your benefit to complete the licensure process before these documents expire; you will be asked to update any expired materials before a license may be issued. Keep in mind that an entirely new application, associated licensure materials and the application fee must be resubmitted once the initial application is a year old.

You must register to take a required exam at the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy’s web site. You must register for an exam before the Board office staff can authorize you to take an exam. It is important that exam registration(s) be completed as soon as you submit your application to the Board of Pharmacy.

An official state criminal history record check (CHRC) is required from your current state of residence as well as official state CHRC’s from every state where you have lived, worked, or completed training during the last 10 years.

• No record checks can be dated more than 90 days prior to the date you submit your application and these CHRC’s will be considered valid for six months from the date of application.
• When completing the application, indicate the name of each specific state in which you have lived, worked or completed training for the last 10 years. “FBI” is not a valid choice for the name of a U.S. state. 
• For applicants living, working, or completing training in Pennsylvania, your CHRC will be generated automatically as part of your application and the required fee will be included at checkout.
• In lieu of individual CHRC’s for every state where you have previously lived, worked, or completed training during the last 10 years, you may submit instead a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Identity History Summary Check for the states where you previously lived, worked or trained. You must still submit an official state CHRC from your current state of residence.
• For applicants currently living, working, or completing training/studies in California, Arizona, or Ohio: Due to the laws of these states, the Board is not an eligible recipient of CHRC's or your CHRC will not be issued to you for upload to the Board. Please obtain your Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Identity History Summary Check for these three states.

You are required to complete three hours of Board-approved continuing education on the topic of child abuse recognition and reporting. Learn more about Approved Child Abuse CE Providers. Confirmation of the course completion must be sent directly to the Board from the education provider. When registering for a course, use your legal name, correct date of birth, correct social security number and be sure to indicate that you are applying for Pennsylvania licensure to ensure your confirmation is sent to the Board. 

Any application that includes a criminal history, disciplinary action taken in another state, etc. must be accompanied by a written explanation from the applicant explaining the circumstances of the situation. Copies of relevant legal or court documents and disciplinary action from another board must be uploaded to the application. Every page of the requested documents must be submitted; partial copies are unacceptable.

Every applicant must obtain and upload to their application a current National Practitioner Data Bank Self-Query. The personal information listed on the report, such as your name, date of birth, social security number, license numbers, etc., must match the personal information that you provide on your pharmacist license application. Do not submit the receipt for the self-query request. You must obtain and upload to the application the completed self-query report. The self-query is valid for six months from the date it is issued by the National Practitioner Data Bank.

Section 9.1(a)(2) of the Achieving Better Care by Monitoring All Prescriptions Program Act (ABC-MAP) requires that all prescribers or dispensers, as defined in Section 3 of ABC-MAP, applying for licensure complete at least 4 hours of Board-approved education consisting of 2 hours in pain management or the identification of addiction and 2 hours in the practices of prescribing or dispensing of opioids. Pharmacists fall within ABC-MAP’s definition of prescribers or dispensers. Pharmacist applicants seeking licensure on or after July 1, 2017, must document, within one year from issuance of the license to practice pharmacy, that they completed this education. If you completed this education as part of your Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education-accredited (ACPE-accredited) pharmacy school degree, please arrange for your school to complete and directly submit to the Board the verification of opioid education form (posted on the Board’s web site) OR submit photocopies of your ACPE-approved pharmacist continuing education certificates of completion.