S05000 Summary:

BILL NOS05000A
 
SAME ASSAME AS A07342-A
 
SPONSORHANNON
 
COSPNSRAVELLA, CARLUCCI, DIAZ, DUANE, GRISANTI, KLEIN, MONTGOMERY, PARKER, RIVERA, SAVINO, VALESKY
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Amd S21, Pub Health L; amd SS6810 & 6509, add S6829, Ed L
 
Relates to prescription forms and labels; requires interpretation services by chain pharmacies and mail order pharmacies for patients with limited English proficiency.
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S05000 Actions:

BILL NOS05000A
 
05/02/2011REFERRED TO HEALTH
06/17/2011AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO HEALTH
06/17/2011PRINT NUMBER 5000A
01/04/2012REFERRED TO HEALTH
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S05000 Floor Votes:

There are no votes for this bill in this legislative session.
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S05000 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                         5000--A
 
                               2011-2012 Regular Sessions
 
                    IN SENATE
 
                                       May 2, 2011
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced by Sens. HANNON, CARLUCCI, DIAZ, DUANE, GRISANTI, MONTGOMERY,
          PARKER, RIVERA, SAVINO, VALESKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and
          when  printed  to be committed to the Committee on Health -- committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to said committee
 

        AN ACT to amend the public health law and the education law, in relation
          to prescription forms and labels, interpretation services and patients
          with limited English proficiency
 
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section  1.  The  opening paragraph of section 21 of the public health
     2  law is designated subdivision 1 and a new subdivision 2 is added to read
     3  as follows:
     4    2.  The  commissioner  shall  promulgate  regulations  requiring  that
     5  prescription  forms  and electronic prescriptions include: (a) a section
     6  wherein prescribers  may  indicate  whether  an  individual  is  limited
     7  English  proficient;  and  (b)  if the patient is limited English profi-

     8  cient, a line where the prescriber may specify  the  preferred  language
     9  indicated  by  the  patient.  For  the  purposes  of this subdivision, a
    10  "limited English proficient individual" means an individual who  identi-
    11  fies  as  being, or is evidently, unable to speak, read or write English
    12  at a level that permits such individual to understand health-related and
    13  pharmaceutical information communicated in English.
    14    § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 6810 of the education law, as amended by
    15  chapter 905 of the laws of 1985, is amended to read as follows:
    16    1. No drug for which a prescription is required by the  provisions  of
    17  the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act or by the commissioner of health
    18  shall   be  distributed  or  dispensed  to  any  person  except  upon  a

    19  prescription written by  a  person  legally  authorized  to  issue  such
    20  prescription.  Such  drug shall be compounded or dispensed by a licensed
    21  pharmacist, and no such drug shall be dispensed without affixing to  the
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02457-07-1

        S. 5000--A                          2
 
     1  immediate container in which the drug is sold or dispensed a label bear-
     2  ing  the  name and address of the owner of the establishment in which it
     3  was dispensed, the date compounded, the number of the prescription under
     4  which it is recorded in the pharmacist's prescription files, the name of
     5  the  prescriber, the name and address of the patient, and the directions

     6  for the use of the drug by the patient as given upon  the  prescription.
     7  All labels shall conform to such rules and regulations as promulgated by
     8  the  commissioner pursuant to section sixty-eight hundred twenty-nine of
     9  this article. The prescribing and  dispensing  of  a  drug  which  is  a
    10  controlled   substance  shall  be  subject  to  additional  requirements
    11  provided in article thirty-three of the public health law.    The  words
    12  "drug" and "prescription required drug" within the meaning of this arti-
    13  cle  shall  not  be  construed  to  include soft or hard contact lenses,
    14  eyeglasses, or any other device for the aid  or  correction  of  vision.
    15  Nothing  in  this subdivision shall prevent a pharmacy from furnishing a
    16  drug to another pharmacy which does not have such drug in stock for  the
    17  purpose of filling a prescription.

    18    § 3. The education law is amended by adding a new section 6829 to read
    19  as follows:
    20    § 6829.  Interpretation requirements for prescription drugs and stand-
    21  ardized  medication labeling.   1. For the purposes of this section, the
    22  following terms shall have the following meanings: (a) "Covered  pharma-
    23  cy"  means  any pharmacy that is part of a group of five or more pharma-
    24  cies owned by the same corporate entity.
    25    (b) "Limited English proficient individual" or "LEP individual"  means
    26  an individual who identifies as being, or is evidently, unable to speak,
    27  read  or write English at a level that permits such individual to under-
    28  stand health-related  and  pharmaceutical  information  communicated  in
    29  English.

    30    (c)  "Translate"  shall mean the conversion of a written text from one
    31  language into an equivalent written text in another language by an indi-
    32  vidual competent to do so and utilizing all necessary pharmaceutical and
    33  health-related terminology.
    34    (d) "Competent oral interpretation" means oral communication in  which
    35  (i)  a  person acting as an interpreter comprehends a spoken message and
    36  re-expresses that message accurately in another language, utilizing  all
    37  necessary  pharmaceutical  and  health-related  terminology;  or  (ii) a
    38  bilingual pharmacy staff member communicates proficiently  with  an  LEP
    39  individual in the LEP individual's primary language utilizing all neces-
    40  sary pharmaceutical and health-related terminology.

    41    (e)  "Pharmacy  primary  languages" shall mean the top seven languages
    42  spoken by LEP individuals in this state as determined biennially by  the
    43  state  board  of  pharmacy  based  on data from the most recent American
    44  Community Survey from the U.S.  Census Bureau and  other  relevant  data
    45  sources.
    46    (f) "Mail order pharmacy" shall mean a pharmacy that dispenses most of
    47  its  prescriptions  through  the  United  States postal service or other
    48  delivery system.
    49    2. (a) Every covered pharmacy and mail order  pharmacy  shall  provide
    50  free,  competent  oral  interpretation  services  to each LEP individual
    51  filling a prescription at such covered pharmacy  or  through  such  mail

    52  order pharmacy in the LEP individual's primary language for the purposes
    53  of  counseling such individual about his or her prescription medications
    54  or when soliciting information necessary to maintain a  patient  medica-
    55  tion  profile,  unless  the  LEP  individual is offered and refuses such
    56  services.

        S. 5000--A                          3
 
     1    (b) Every covered pharmacy and mail order pharmacy shall provide free,
     2  competent oral interpretation of prescription medication labels, warning
     3  labels and other written material  to  each  LEP  individual  filling  a
     4  prescription at such covered pharmacy or through such mail order pharma-
     5  cy,  unless  the  LEP individual is offered and refuses such services or

     6  the medication label, warning labels and other  written  materials  have
     7  already been translated into the language spoken by the LEP individual.
     8    (c)  The  services required by this section may be provided by a staff
     9  member of the pharmacy or a third-party contractor. Such  services  must
    10  be  provided on an immediate basis but need not be provided in-person or
    11  face-to-face in order to meet the requirements of this section.
    12    3. Every covered pharmacy shall conspicuously post, at or adjacent  to
    13  each  counter  over  which  prescription  drugs are sold, and every mail
    14  order pharmacy shall include in the package in which prescription  drugs
    15  are  delivered  a  notification of the right to free language assistance

    16  services for limited English proficient individuals as provided  for  in
    17  subdivision two of this section. Such notifications shall be provided in
    18  the  pharmacy  primary  languages. The size, style and placement of such
    19  notice shall be determined in accordance with rules promulgated  by  the
    20  commissioner.
    21    4.  Any  person aggrieved by a failure to receive services required by
    22  this section shall have a cause of action only against the covered phar-
    23  macy or mail order pharmacy in any court of competent  jurisdiction  for
    24  damages,  including punitive damages, and for injunctive relief and such
    25  other remedies as may be appropriate.
    26    5. (a) The commissioner shall develop rules and regulations  requiring

    27  a  standardized, patient-centered, prescription drug label to be used on
    28  all prescription medicine dispensed to patients in this state.
    29    (b) When developing the requirements for prescription drug labels, the
    30  commissioner shall consider factors including, but not limited  to,  the
    31  following:
    32    (i)  medical  literacy  research  that points to increased understand-
    33  ability of labels;
    34    (ii) improved directions for use;
    35    (iii) improved font types and sizes;
    36    (iv) placement of information that is patient-centered;
    37    (v) the needs of senior citizens.
    38    To ensure maximum public comment, the commissioner shall  hold  public
    39  meetings   to  seek  information  from  groups  representing  consumers,

    40  seniors, pharmacists or the practice  of  pharmacy,  other  health  care
    41  professionals, and other interested parties.
    42    (c)  Two  hundred  seventy  days after the commissioner has issued its
    43  final rules and  regulations  regarding  standardized,  patient-centered
    44  prescription  medication labels, covered pharmacies and mail order phar-
    45  macies shall provide free, competent  translated  medication  labels  to
    46  each  LEP  individual filling a prescription at such covered pharmacy or
    47  mail order pharmacy who speaks one of the  pharmacy  primary  languages.
    48  Nothing  in this section shall prohibit a covered pharmacy or mail order
    49  pharmacy from providing translated medication  labels  in  languages  in

    50  addition to the pharmacy primary languages. The covered pharmacy or mail
    51  order  pharmacy  shall  provide  free,  competent oral interpretation of
    52  medication labels to LEP individuals who do not speak one of the pharma-
    53  cy primary languages, unless the LEP individual is offered  and  refuses
    54  such services.
    55    6.  This  section  shall  preempt any contrary local law or ordinance,
    56  except that this section shall not preempt or supercede  local  laws  or

        S. 5000--A                          4
 
     1  ordinances  imposing  additional  or  stricter  requirements relating to
     2  interpretation or translation services in pharmacies.
     3    §  4.  Section  6509  of  the education law is amended by adding a new
     4  subdivision 15 to read as follows:

     5    (15) A violation of section sixty-eight hundred  twenty-nine  of  this
     6  chapter  (interpretation  requirements for prescription drugs and stand-
     7  ardized medication labeling), but only as to a pharmacy and  not  to  an
     8  individual licensed pharmacist.
     9    §  5. This act shall take effect one year after it shall become a law;
    10  provided, however, that the commissioner of health, the commissioner  of
    11  education and the state board of pharmacy are immediately authorized and
    12  directed  to  take actions necessary to implement this act when it takes
    13  effect.
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