BILL NUMBER:S1319

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the
education law and the public health law, in relation to requiring
certain prescriptions to be typewritten

PURPOSE:
Requires that prescriptions shall be typewritten, electronically
printed or handwritten in ink or indelible pencil in a legible manner.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Subdivision 8 of section 6810 of the education law, as added by
chapter 626 of the laws of 1985 is amended. The opening paragraph of
subdivision 2 of section 3332 of the public health law as amended by
chapter 178 of the laws of 2010 is amended.

JUSTIFICATION:
In this era of skyrocketing malpractice insurance premiums, avoiding
prescription error not only safeguards patient safety, but protects
the doctor as well.

Typewritten or carefully printed prescriptions will lead to a safer
environment in the interaction between physicians, pharmacists and
other health-care providers. This legislation does not require
              

advanced computer systems for prescription writing but only mandates
that prescriptions be typed or printed legibly. Typing out
prescriptions dramatically reduces errors.

To many patients and, unfortunately, pharmacists, handwriting often
looks like a secret code between the physician and the druggist.
Unfortunately, those scribbles are sometimes exactly what they appear
to be, sloppy handwriting and unintelligible.

A 2010 Cornell Medical College study highlights the dangers associated
with handwritten prescriptions. Five doctors followed the
prescriptions issued by a sample of providers in outpatient settings.
The researchers found 37 errors for every 100 paper prescriptions,
and 7 per 100 for those using e-prescribing software. Typewritten
prescriptions offer an alternative to e-prescribing software, while
accomplishing the same goal. The Institute of Medicine estimated a $2
billion cost associated with adverse drug events often caused by
illegible prescriptions.

In July 2006, a report from the National Academies of Science
Institute of Medicine, found that preventable medication mistakes
injure more than 1.5 million Americans annually. Many such errors
result from unclear abbreviations, dosage indications and illegible
writing on some of the 3.2 billion prescriptions written in the U.S.
every year. In addition, doctors'
sloppy handwriting kills more than 7,000 people annually {Cause of
Death: Sloppy Doctors," WWW.TIME.COM. January 15, 2007.

While the vast majority of prescriptions are written and interpreted
correctly, common sense dictates that typewritten prescriptions will


insure even more accurate readings. Pharmacists should be especially
appreciative of more easily read prescription forms. Typewritten
prescriptions only take about 2 minutes per order compared to 15
seconds for writing one, but the advantage far outweighs any extra
moments involved.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2009-2010: S.1752 - Advanced to Third Reading and was reported to
Codes Committee.
2011-2012: S.3356 - Referred to Higher Education

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the state but litigation would be reduced, resulting in
unknown savings to our court system.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the two hundred seventieth day after it
shall have become a law.