PRESCRIPTION DISCONTINUATION

Urges the Department of Public Health to undertake a study coordinating with the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy (Chicago and Rockford campuses), the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Pharmacy, and the Chicago State University College of Pharmacy to determine the appropriateness of promoting and encouraging interprofessional communication between healthcare providers, physicians, nurse practitioners, physician's assistants, and pharmacists to facilitate more effective methods for transitioning care of a patient between the various healthcare settings or managing their medication regimens. Urges the Department of Public Health to examine and recommend solutions for a mechanism or process for electronically-prescribed prescription orders to electronically transmit "discontinuation", "cancel", or "stop" notifications to the pharmacy upon discontinuation or cancellation of the order. Urges the Department of Public Health to examine the overall benefits of mandated pharmacist-led medication reconciliation upon patient entrance into a new healthcare setting and patient discharge education upon transition to a new healthcare setting, follow-up communication with patients by healthcare providers after a specified period of time after transitioning, electronic communication to pharmacies whenever a change in medication occurs, and use of the primary care provider as a nexus for communication between healthcare providers, including pharmacists, to assure a centralized medication list is maintained for each patient.