(San Francisco, CA) – The California State Assembly passed legislation authored by Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) that will help 6.5 million Californians with limited English proficiency to understand their medications by requiring pharmacists to distribute standardized translations of drug information materials.
Ting’s Assembly Bill (AB) 1073 passed 74-0 and moves to the State Senate for further review.
“Failure to understand prescriptions causes preventable tragedies. By ensuring that all patients understand their medications, we will save lives and improve healthcare for millions of Californians,” said Ting. “California is the most linguistically diverse state and we need an equal standard of patient care regardless of language ability.”
Sponsored by the California Board of Pharmacy, AB 1073 will improve patient access to prescription drug information in their primary languages through the following provisions.
- The Board of Pharmacy must make available and post on its website standardized translated directions on all prescription medications in at least 5 languages other than English.
- Pharmacists must use these standardized translations and, since many pharmacists cannot personally authenticate the materials, the bill would limit their liability for inadvertent errors in their use.
- Pharmacists already providing patients with their own translated directions are encouraged to continue.
“A patient’s first and best source of information about their medication is the prescription label,” said Sarah de Guia, Executive Director of the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network. “Patients with limited English skills are over twice as likely to have difficulty understanding their medications. This bill will help make prescription labels understandable and meaningful for millions of Californians."
The 2010 U.S. Census found over 6.5 million Californians speak English less than “very well.” And, 44 percent of Californians speak a language other than English at home.
Prompted by a 2007 state law, the Board developed standardized, patient-centered prescription labels with simplified drug use directions and improved font sizing. The Board also developed online information tools to confront language access challenges that have not been used by pharmacists due to liability concerns over inadvertent errors.
AB 1073 is also supported by Health Access, Rite Aid Pharmacy, and the CA Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative. Further information is available at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov.