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The Board of Registered Nursing is reminding prescribers of the upcoming e-prescribing requirements established by Assembly Bill (AB) 2789 (Wood, 2018).
Beginning Jan. 1, 2022, all prescriptions issued by a licensed health care practitioner to a California pharmacy must be submitted electronically. Health care practitioners who fail to meet the requirements of AB 2789 may be subject to disciplinary action.
The law provides certain exemptions, including if transmission of the prescription is temporarily unavailable because of technological or electrical failure; if the prescription is dispensed by a pharmacy located outside California; or if the prescription is issued to a patient who has a terminal illness pursuant to Section 11159.2 of the Health and Safety Code. The complete list of exemptions is included within Business and Professions Code section 688.
The board recommends that all licensed prescribers have paper prescription forms that meet the requirements of AB 149 should a technological or electrical failure prevent a prescription from being issued electronically. A list of approved security prescription printers is available on the state attorney general’s website.
More information on the e-prescribing requirements is available online.
