Florida Bill Would Set Up Computerized Database To Track Prescription Drugs
A bill unveiled yesterday by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) announced create a computerized database to track prescription drugs as part of an effort to halt abuse of legal medications, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. Under the bill, sponsored by state Sen. Locke Burt (R), the database would be exempt from the state's public records laws and would be available only to doctors, pharmacists and law enforcement officials. The database would help health and law enforcement officials determine whether "certain people were overfilling" prescription medications, the Sun-Sentinel reports. Burt added that the database would allow pharmacists to know before they fill a prescription whether a "patient has gone pharmacy shopping," meaning that a person has visited several pharmacies to fill a certain prescription. Eighteen states have computerized prescription drug databases. Burt is also sponsoring two other bills that aim to stop the misuse of prescription drugs. One would establish safeguards for patient privacy in the database, and the other would institute punishments for doctors who illegally prescribe medications (Schneider, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 12/5).
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