New Prescription law requires Improved Handwriting.
Mark L. Rosen, Esquire
Section 456.42 of the Florida Statutes requires that written prescriptions for a medicinal drug issued by a health care practitioner licensed by law to prescribe such drug must be legibly printed or typed so as to be capable of being understood by the pharmacist filling the prescription. The script must also contain the name of the prescribing practitioner, the name and strength of the drug prescribed, the quantity of the drug prescribed in both textual and numerical formats, and the directions for use of the drug. Specifically, the month must be written out in textual letters and must be signed by the prescribing practitioner on the day when issued.
Improved patient safety by reducing errors in prescription medications is the primary purpose of the law. The law does not specify how the Department of Health would handle prescription writers who do not comply. As indicated in the FAQ section of the Board's website, "As with all new laws and programs, we cannot predict what will happen in every situation, however, the Department is now focused on how best to implement the law not on how to discipline health care providers who are doing their best to learn and acclimate to this new prescription format."