STATEMENT TO

SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

SENATE, No. 1400

with Senate Floor Amendments

(Proposed By Senator EWING)

ADOPTED: DECEMBER 16, 1996

      These amendments makes this bill identical to Assembly Bill No. 31 ACS (1R).

      The amendments delete the requirement that the uniform New Jersey Prescription Blanks be serialized, although the blanks will have to printed on non-reproducible, non-erasable safety paper. The amendments also require that the Division of Consumer Affairs establish the format for the prescription blanks (including a logo or symbol that will appear on each blank to distinguish the new blanks from the ones currently in use) and solicit vendors to produce the blanks within 10 days of the bill's enactment. Also, the division shall approve, within 45 days of the bill's enactment, a sufficient number of vendors to ensure an adequate supply of the prescription blanks Statewide.

      In addition to notifying all licensed prescribers and health care facilities of the new prescription blank requirements, the amendments require the division to notify all licensed pharmacists. The amendments authorize the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs to suspend the operative date for when the new prescription blanks must be used (180 days from the date of enactment of the bill) in the event that he determines that an insufficient number of prescribers and health care facilities have obtained the required prescription blanks by that date with the result that persons seeking to have prescriptions filled would be substantially inconvenienced.

      Finally, amendments require the Office of Drug Control (which must be notified by a health care provider in the event the prescription blanks are stolen) to take all appropriate action upon receipt of notification, including notifying the Department of Human Services and the Attorney General of the theft of the prescription blanks.