[Education and Welfare] ALERT! ALERT! Accessible Prescription Drug Labeling Bill to be Introduced in House

[dauidr at juno.com]

Thank you, Denny, for this alert that ERic passed on through you. I do one large concern and a corrollary recommendation here.

When the GAO runs its test to see if the labels are accessible, they need to use totally blind and visually impaired representatives. Knowing that the technology "works" is not good enough. Knowing that it works from the perspective of the blind and visually impaired consumers is the key.

So often, in both government and private places of employment, the standard for 508 compliance boils down to if the IT staff can get the computer or scanner to "work." Here, many of our consumers who are older may not have as much technological savvy or training. So, the accessibility will have to be extremely user friendly.

Furthermore, no matter how good the labeling gets, it aids, not replaces, good organization skills one learns through daily living practices.
Anyway, excellent, excellent new going into this weekend.
David Rosenkoetter
Kansas City, MO

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Subject: [leadership] ALERT! ALERT! Accessible Prescription Drug Labeling
Bill to be Introduced in House

 

I am very pleased to announce that on Monday Representative Ed Markey (D-MA)
will introduce H.R. 4087, Accessible Prescription Drug Labeling Promotion
Act of 2012! 

 

 

 Under H.R. 4087,  representatives of consumers and pharmacies and federal
regulators will convene a working group. This group will establish "best
practices" for pharmacies to ensure that people who are blind or visually
impaired have access to prescription drug labeling. In other words, the
group's recommendations would provide guidance to pharmacists on actions
they can take to ensure that the blind or visually impaired understand the
information on their prescription and they can access this information
independently. The guidelines should provide pharmacies a range of options
they can choose to offer consumers,. Many of these options are low-cost,
widely-available, and compatible with equipment already in pharmacies. 

 

The working group would consider options including:

*	Enhanced visual aids such as large-print font, sans-serif font, and
high-contrast printing
*	Non-visual aids such as braille
*	Auditory aids such as digital voice recorders attached to pill
bottles, "talking bottles" that provide audible label information, and Radio
Frequency Identification (RFID) tags or auxiliary smart labels, which are
programmed, printed, and affixed to a prescription label container by a
pharmacist. These labels can then be accessed by the consumer privately and
independently, using a hand-held device that reads out the label
information. 

 

After pharmacies have had  the opportunity to implement the guidelines, the
Government Accountability Office (GAO) will review the degree to which
pharmacies are in compliance. They will examine whether the blind or
visually impaired still lack safe and independent access to prescription
drug labeling and issue a report to Congress on the remaining gaps and the
scope of the problem. 

 

As you can imagine, this issue will be covered at length during the
Legislative Seminar. Our sincere thanks go to Rep. Markey and his staff for
championing this issue. 

 

Eric  

 

 

Eric Bridges

Director of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs

American Council of the Blind

2200 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 650

Arlington, VA 22201

202-467-5081

ebridges at acb.org

www.acb.org

Follow us on Twitter @acbnational

 

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