By Mr. Moore, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate,
No. 419) of Richard T. Moore for legislation relative to
the safe administration of medications and legible
prescriptions. Elder Affairs. |
By Mr. Moore, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate,
No. 419) of Richard T. Moore for legislation relative to
the safe administration of medications and legible
prescriptions. Elder Affairs. |
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. (a) The Betsy Lehman center for patient safety and medical error reduction, shall convene a task force, which shall develop recommendations on methods for reducing medication and prescription errors including recommendations on:
(1) increasing prescription legibility;
(2) minimizing confusion in prescription drug labeling and packaging;
(3) developing medication error reporting plans;
(4) researching the effect of proven medication safety practices, including the use of automated drug-ordering systems;
(5) reducing confusion created by similar-sounding drug names;
(6) increasing patient education on the medications they are prescribed;
(7) developing education programs for any person who writes prescriptions and reviewing the education programs for new practitioners and the continuing education requirements of established practitioners, including, but not limited to, programs offered to practitioners to educate them on the cost effective therapeutic alternatives to prescriptions; and
(8) studying the issue of whether any dispensed prescription medication, other than those in unit dose or unit of use packaging, shall be labeled with its physical description, including, but not limited to, color, shape and any identification code that may appear on tablets and capsules.
(b) The task force shall include: a representative of each of the following entities: the board of registration in pharmacy; the board of registration in nursing; the board of registration in medicine; the board of registration in dentistry; the department of public health; the Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors, the Massachusetts Medical Society; the Massachusetts Dental Society; the Massachusetts Hospital Association; the Massachusetts Nurses Association; the Massachusetts Organization of Nurse Executives; the Retailers Association of Massachusetts; The Massachusetts Chain Pharmacy Council; the Massachusetts Society of Health System Pharmacists; each of the medical schools located in the commonwealth; each of the dental schools located in the commonwealth and each of the colleges or schools of pharmacy located in the commonwealth.
(b)The task force shall complete the development of its recommendations not later than December 15, 2009.
SECTION 2. The Betsy Lehman Center shall submit its report, together with any recommendations for legislation or regulations, to the general court, by filing them with the clerks of the senate and house of representatives, the house and senate chairs of the joint committee on health care and the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means not later than December 31, 2009.
