For the first time, California pharmacies must report every prescription error under legislation signed by the governor Sunday.
The measure — Assembly Bill 1286 — is aimed at reducing the estimated 5 million mistakes pharmacists make each year.
The Times detailed last month how Californians have been harmed by the errors, most of which happen in chain pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens. Pharmacists in those stores often fill hundreds of prescriptions during a shift, while also providing vaccinations, calling doctors to confirm prescriptions and working the cash register.
In a survey of California licensed pharmacists in 2021, 91% of those working at chain pharmacies said staffing wasn’t high enough to provide patients adequate care.
The bill, written by Assemblymember Matt Haney, a San Francisco Democrat, also gives pharmacists more power to increase staffing in the pharmacy when they believe the workload has become too heavy to keep patients safe.
The bill was opposed by the California Community Pharmacy Coalition, a lobbying group representing retail pharmacies, including the big chains.
The chain pharmacies have said that the errors are rare and that they have measures in place to keep patients safe.
The state’s Board of Pharmacy sponsored the bill. The board, which regulates pharmacies, said it does not know whether the number of prescription errors has been increasing or decreasing because pharmacies are not required to report them.
Under the bill, the error reports would not be made public. Instead, the pharmacies would send them to a third party, which would provide non-identifying information to the pharmacy board.
“Today is a historic day for the California State Board of Pharmacy and California patients,” said Seung Oh, president of the pharmacy board. “AB 1286 will establish the first in the nation revolutionary patient protection measures that will aim to truly improve patient care.”
The Times found the errors have included cases in which pharmacists gave customers the wrong drug, a dosage that was too high or low and dangerously incorrect instructions for taking the medication.
Some mistakes have been serious. As many as 9,000 Americans die each year from prescription errors, according to one study.
