Centralized hospital packaging pharmacies: medication labels.

The Pharmacy Law provides for the licensure and regulation of pharmacies, including hospital pharmacies, by the California State Board of Pharmacy, and makes a knowing violation of that law a crime. Existing law authorizes a centralized hospital packaging pharmacy to prepare medications for administration to inpatients within its own general acute care hospital or certain other commonly owned hospitals. Existing law requires that these medications be barcoded to be readable at the inpatient's bedside in order to retrieve certain information, including the date that the medication was prepared and the components used in the drug product. This bill would instead require that this information be displayed on a human-readable label or be retrievable using the lot number or control number of the medication, rather than by reading the barcode. The bill would require that a medication's barcode be machine readable using medication administration software, and that the software compare the information contained in the barcode to the electronic medical record of the inpatient in order to verify that the medication to be given is the correct medication, dosage, and route of administration for that patient. Because a knowing violation of these provisions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.