Allows pharmacies to store medication in automated dispensing machines if a contractual agreement is in place with a nursing home or healthcare facility at such facility for the residents.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A4803
SPONSOR: Dinowitz TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to permitting pharmacies
to store prescribed medications in automated dispensing machines
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill would permit the storing of prescribed drugs that have been
lawfully dispensed by a pharmacist intended only for a nursing home
resident in an automatic dispensing machine within the nursing facility.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill amends subdivision 1 of section 6802 of the
education law to state that pharmacies registered by the department,
based upon a contractual agreement with a nursing home or residential
healthcare facility, may store prescribed medications at such facility
in an automated dispensing machine and dispense such medications for the
sole use of the facility's residents.
Section two of the bill provides the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Timely access to medications is critical for successful therapeutic
outcomes and to avoid re-hospitalizations from nursing homes. Automatic
dispensing machines (ADMs) are currently used by more than 200 nursing
homes in New,York, served by an off-site pharmacy. Release of a medica-
tion from an ADM is controlled electronically by the pharmacist. This
practice was authorized by regulation of the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) in 2005 and, in New York, by regulation and guid-
ance of the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement (BNE) in 2006. The pharmacy
owns the ADM and must first obtain a registration certificate from the
DEA and then submit this to BNE for approval. Once approved, the medica-
tion is now activated on the resident's ADM medication profile by an
electronic message transmitted from the Pharmacy Operating System to the
ADM. If unlawful diversion occurs, data stored in an ADM can be used to
track and resolve the diversion.
In 2017, the Board of Pharmacy posted an Advisory Notice on their
website stating that ADM use for dispensing to customers outside the
physical pharmacy area is not allowed. The new prohibition has caused
confusion for nursing homes, whose responsibility is far different than
a retail pharmacy serving the public. That difference is recognized in
other exceptions to law including electronic prescribing requirements
and allowing registered nurses to act as agents for urgent prescriptions
ordered by physicians. In keeping with that recognition, this bill will
permit medication storage in an ADM located in a nursing home when a
pharmacy is under contract with a nursing home, consistent with other
state and federal rules.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-24:A.7195- Higher Education
2021-22:A.215 -Higher Education
2019-20:A.7806- Higher Education/ S.6011- Third Reading
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4803
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 6, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. DINOWITZ -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Higher Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to permitting pharmacies
to store prescribed medications in automated dispensing machines
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 6802 of the education law, as
2 amended by chapter 538 of the laws of 2001, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 1. "Pharmacy" means (a) any place in which drugs, prescriptions or
5 poisons are possessed for the purpose of compounding, preserving,
6 dispensing or retailing, or in which drugs, prescriptions or poisons are
7 compounded, preserved, dispensed or retailed, or in which such drugs,
8 prescriptions or poisons are by advertising or otherwise offered for
9 sale at retail[.]; and (b) a pharmacy registered by the department, and
10 based upon a contractual arrangement with a nursing home or residential
11 health care facility as defined in section twenty-eight hundred one of
12 the public health law, may store prescribed medications at such facility
13 in an automated dispensing machine and dispense such medications for the
14 sole use of the facility's residents.
15 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08257-01-5
