Put in Your Two Cents on Prescription Labeling
By: State: California
The California State Board of Pharmacy is seeking public input to make prescription labels easier to understand. Recent studies show that 46 percent of patients misunderstand the prescription label that they get from the pharmacy. Mistakes based on misread labels harm at least 1.5 million people every year and costs about $1 billion dollars annually.
"With few exceptions, most prescription container labels are not terribly user friendly," said Board Executive Officer Virginia Herold. "Yet it's crucial for patients to understand the information on them for the prescriptions to be effective."
Improved labels will aid patients in taking their medicine as prescribed.
Over the next several months, the Board will hold public meetings to elicit suggestions from consumers and health care providers to improve prescription labels and make them easier to understand.
In addition, a survey has been placed on the Board of Pharmacy website to allow consumers the opportunity to provide input on such changes. Please visit www.pharmacy.ca.gov and click on the "What’s New" section under "Quick Hits" for the Prescription Label Survey.
The information collected from patients will be used by the Board to develop new regulations as required by the California Patient Medication Safety Act of 2007.
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