New York Moves to Electronic-Only Prescriptions

Next week, New York will become the first state to require all prescriptions be written electronically. Physicians who fail to comply will be penalized with fines and/or imprisonment. This is the second part of a 2012 state law, I-Stop, which was designed to help fight prescription opioid abuse.

The first part of I-Stop went into effect in 2013 and is an online drug registry that contains all of the controlled medications prescribed to a patient. Physicians need to consult the registry before prescribing medications, according to a recent article in the New York Times.

Minnesota has a similar law, however, physicians aren’t penalized for using paper prescriptions.