Prescription drugs: labeling.

The Pharmacy Law provides for the licensure and regulation of pharmacists by the California State Board of Pharmacy. Existing law prohibits a pharmacist from dispensing any prescription unless it is in a specified container that is correctly labeled to include, among other information, the directions for the use of the drug. Existing regulations of the board provide standardized directions for use that are required to be used on drug container labels, as specified. This bill would require the board to conduct a survey of a representative sample of licensed pharmacists to determine the usage of the directions for use described above. The bill would require this survey to address certain issues, including, but not limited to, whether and how often the pharmacist utilizes the directions for use, barriers to utilizing the directions for use, and other directions for use utilized by the pharmacist. The bill would also require the board to conduct a similar survey of vendors that provide electronic health records (EHR) to pharmacies and prescribers to determine the type of directions for use included in the vendor's EHR programming, as specified. The bill would authorize these surveys to be conducted with other routine surveys conducted by the board during its regular course of business. The bill would require the board to report the survey findings at its July 2016 board meeting and to publish the findings on the board's Internet Web site, as specified.