HR0944 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0944 LRB099 18297 GRL 43086 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, A gap exists in Illinois in communication from health care providers to pharmacies; and

WHEREAS, When medications are discontinued, changed, or replaced by a prescriber, rarely is the change communicated to the pharmacy; and

WHEREAS, Pharmacies often continue to dispense medications that should have been stopped; and

WHEREAS, These practices expose patients to increased risk and cost; and

WHEREAS, The State of Illinois maintains very little data on this issue; the only available studies are extremely limited in scope and pertain only to high-risk medications within a connected health care system; and

WHEREAS, Each day in Illinois, thousands of prescriptions are discontinued by prescribers; and

WHEREAS, When a prescriber discontinues a medication, the medication appears as inactive in that patient's electronic health records; and

WHEREAS, Pharmacies encourage "auto-refill" programs, wherein refills are automatically processed without the patient's request; and

WHEREAS, Many patients have limited knowledge of the exact names or doses of all of their medications; and

WHEREAS, No mechanisms to enable the transmission of "discontinue", "cancel", or "stop" orders through e-prescribing systems have been adopted by the relevant stakeholders; and

WHEREAS, There are high indirect costs to health care payers who have to refill expensive prescriptions unnecessarily; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to undertake a study to determine the appropriateness of mandating a mechanism for electronically-prescribed prescription orders to electronically transmit "discontinuation", "cancel", or "stop" orders from health care providers to pharmacies; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to examine the effects of auto-refill programs on the unnecessary filling of discontinued medications no longer endorsed by the prescriber; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to complete its study and submit its findings to the General Assembly, the Governor, and the Secretary of Financial and Professional Regulation by December 31, 2016.