BILL NUMBER: AB 1589	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JULY 16, 2001
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 30, 2001

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Simitian

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2001

   An act to add Section 2028 to the Business and Professions Code,
relating to the healing arts.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1589, as amended, Simitian.  Healing arts:  electronic
transmission prescriptions.
   Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, creates the Medical Board
of California and requires it to perform various duties relating to
the practices of physicians and surgeons and other healing arts
practitioners.
   This bill would require the board to consult with the California
State Board of Pharmacy and commission a study that evaluates the
electronic transmission of prescriptions by physicians and surgeons
and report its results to the Legislature on or before January 1,
2003.  The bill would specify that the board's report include
recommendations to encourage physicians and surgeons  and other
specified health care providers  to use this method to transmit
prescriptions and identify systems to protect patients, including the
issuance of a digital certification, as defined.
   Vote:  majority.  Appropriation:  no.  Fiscal committee:  yes.
State-mandated local program:  no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  (a) The Legislature finds, based upon a report entitled
"To Err is Human, Building a Safer Health System," a report issued
in 1999 by the Institute of Medicine, that in 1993, approximately
7,000 deaths occurred in the United States as a result of medication
errors.
   (b) The Legislature further finds, based on information from the
Institute for Safe Medicine Practices, the following:
   (1) Of the three billion prescriptions issued each year in the
United States, nearly all of them are handwritten by the physician
and surgeon issuing the prescription.
   (2) Illegible prescriptions result in more than 150 million
inquiries each year by pharmacists for clarification from the
physician and surgeon who issued the prescription.
   (3) While the technology exists for the electronic transmission of
prescriptions, less than 5 percent of physicians and surgeons use
this technology to prescribe medication.
  SEC. 2.  Section 2028 is added to the Business and Professions
Code, to read:
   2028.  The Medical Board of California shall consult with the
California State Board of Pharmacy and commission a study and report
its results to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2003, on the
electronic transmission of prescriptions by physicians and surgeons.
This report shall include recommendations for methods to encourage
physicians and surgeons  and health care providers specified in
subdivision (a) of Section 4024  to issue prescriptions by
electronic transmission and identification of systems to protect
patients for whom prescriptions are issued using that process,
including, but not limited to, the issuance of digital certification
to physicians and surgeons  and health care providers specified
in subdivision (a) of Section 4024  to use when transmitting
prescriptions electronically. "Digital certification" is an
electronic signature verifying the identity of the physician and
surgeon  or health care provider specified in subdivision (a) of
Section 4024  who is transmitting the prescription
electronically.