The Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission (PQAC) has released a draft CR-101 rule on accessible prescription labeling and will be discussing it at an upcoming rules workshop in June (date to be determined). WSHA has convened a workgroup to discuss the draft, and is currently developing our comment letter.
The rule focuses on requiring dispensing facilities and dispensing practitioners to provide accessible labeling for prescription medications. These requirements apply to both visually accessible and language accessible accommodations. While not yet a requirement, the draft seeks to require prescription labels to be provided in Braille, large font, QR codes or through prescription readers for visually impaired individuals and translated (written) into any language spoken by at least 1% of the population in Washington state. The draft rule also outlines a number of requirements related to notification and documentation. A bill was introduced during the 2022 legislative session that would have required accessible labeling. The bill failed to advance because PQAC felt that the change would best be addressed by rulemaking. WSHA participated in a workgroup between pharmacy experts from WSHA and WSPA and patient advocates throughout last year. Following completion of the workgroup, the commission released a draft outline in December 2022. WSHA provided comments on the draft outline.
WSHA will also attend the upcoming and any future rules workshops. If you have someone on your staff that should be involved in WSHA’s pharmacy workgroup, please contact Remy Kerr. (RemyK@wsha.org).
