Requires pharmacies that are discontinuing to notify customers of such discontinuance and provide information including locations of other nearby pharmacies.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1423B
SPONSOR: Rosenthal L TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to requiring pharmacies
that are discontinuing to notify customers of such discontinuance
PURPOSE:
This bill requires pharmacies to provide customers with at least thirty
days' notice of the pharmacy's discontinuance.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one amends the education law by adding a new section 6811-d.
Section two establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
When a pharmacy permanently closes, it is standard practice to transfer
patient prescriptions to another pharmacy, often owned by the same
company. The new pharmacy may not be convenient to the customer and may
not be a pharmacy the customer would have selected if given the choice.
Such choice is even more important in the post-Roe era as some pharma-
cists have chosen not to fill certain prescriptions due to religious or
moral beliefs.
Every customer deserves the ability to have their prescription filled by
the pharmacy of their choice, regardless of the medication. This legis-
lation would ensure that discontinuing pharmacies notify customers
through signage and through a customer's primary means of communication
with the pharmacy. Such notice shall include a list of nearby pharma-
cies, two of which shall be independently owned, and instructions on how
to transfer prescriptions.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Undetermined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect 60 days after it shall have become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9769--B
IN ASSEMBLY
April 5, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL, McDONALD -- read once and referred
to the Committee on Higher Education -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee -- reported and referred to the Committee on Rules -- Rules
Committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring pharmacies
that are discontinuing to notify customers of such discontinuance
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 6811-d
2 to read as follows:
3 § 6811-d. Notification of pharmacy discontinuance. 1. Every regis-
4 tered pharmacy that sells prescription drugs at retail shall provide
5 public notice at least thirty days prior to its discontinuance. Such
6 notice shall:
7 (a) be provided, to the extent possible, to customers who have had a
8 prescription filled at the pharmacy within the year prior to its discon-
9 tinuance through the customer's primary means of communication with such
10 pharmacy; and
11 (b) be conspicuously posted at or adjacent to the place in the pharma-
12 cy where prescriptions are presented for compounding and dispensing, in
13 the waiting area for customers, or the area where prescribed drugs are
14 dispensed.
15 2. The notification required pursuant to subdivision one of this
16 section shall include, but not be limited to:
17 (a) the date of such pharmacy's discontinuance;
18 (b) the names, addresses, and phone numbers of five nearby pharmacies,
19 provided that, to the extent possible, at least two of the listed phar-
20 macies shall be independently owned;
21 (c) instructions on transferring any existing prescriptions to another
22 pharmacy; and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14216-11-4
A. 9769--B 2
1 (d) information regarding the disposition of prescription records if a
2 customer fails to transfer a prescription prior to such pharmacy's
3 discontinuance.
4 § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
5 have become a law.
