Here are five observations:
1. Electronic prescriptions are transmitted directly to pharmacies rather than being handwritten or called in.
2. According to the state Department of Health, the law aims to fight painkiller abuse by thwarting prescription-slip forgery, while reducing errors by eliminating sometimes hard-to-read handwriting.
3. The legislation was supposed to go into effect last year, but was postponed after several lawmakers said they felt physicians weren’t ready to make the switch and needed an extra year to prepare before putting away their script pads.
4. This is the first law in the United States that mandates the use of e-prescriptions and also issues penalties against physicians who fail to do so.
5. More than 60,000 physicians have already been e-prescribing, including physicians within Bassett Healthcare Network based in Cooperstown, N.Y.
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