It’s rare to find community agricultural and health care organizations teaming up on an effort. The issues both industries care about seldom overlap, but occasionally, they do. Never is that truer than the current effort underway in Congress to modernize a certain aspect of the prescription process. It might seem ambitious at times given the politicization of Congress, but there are recent examples of our leaders tackling complex issues in a bipartisan way when coalitions come together to iron out their differences.
I am a staunch supporter of good public policy, which is why it’s time for Congress to modernize the e-labeling process for prescribing information. It sounds like a complex policy issue, but in fact, it’s quite simple. In 2014, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a rule to allow pharmaceutical companies to transmit prescribing information, or PI, to health care professionals electronically. Eliminating the need for bulky, encyclopedia-style booklets to be developed, printed, and distributed to pharmacists and doctors if they choose. However, each year since 2014, appropriations bills have been used to block the development of that new rule from taking place. This year, however, the House of Representatives has put forth a bipartisan plan that would allow this rulemaking to move forward – thus modernizing the distribution of PI and eliminating the need for these massive paper inserts.
It is important to note – nothing in this effort changes the information that patients receive from their doctor or pharmacists. PI is information prepared solely for health care practitioners. On average, PI averages 30 pages long and is often immediately discarded upon receipt by a pharmacist or doctor because it is often outdated, and real-time information is available online. However, because the FDA has been blocked from finalizing rules for this modernized process, printed material is still required. Annually, the FDA estimates that because as many as three billion prescription inserts are produced annually, 90 billion pieces of paper are needed to fulfill this requirement.
The paper booklets that pharmacists and doctors receive can take approximately 8-12 months to reach a health care professional – from preparation to printing and shipping. The digital information is updated in real-time, giving health care professionals the most up-to-date information at their fingertips. At a time when most health care professionals are digitizing their operations, printed information, such as PI, is becoming obsolete. According to Surescripts 2021 National Progress Report, 94 percent of prescriptions were filled electronically. The entire prescription process is becoming more digitized, so it makes sense to allow pharmacies and other health care professionals to choose how to receive this information.
I’ve spent my career advocating for commonsense legislation that gets out of the way of business owners and ensures that farmers, ranchers, and forest owners can be exemplary stewards of the natural resources that power their businesses. The current processes in place are clearly having a negative impact on the environment and not meeting the modern technological resources at the disposal of our pharmacists and patients. Our members at the National Grange live in some of the most rural parts of this country. Why wouldn’t Congress want to ensure these patients, pharmacists, and doctors are receiving the most up to date prescribing information possible instead of relying on an antiquated way of doing business?
Twenty-two members of the House of Representatives, Democrats and Republicans, have joined this effort and every day, more and more groups are becoming supporting. The support includes the business community, health care professionals, and environmental organizations. In fact, for the first time, the American Pharmacists Association has endorsed this commonsense proposal. We know that digitizing the distribution of PI is better for patient safety and the statistics speak for themselves. It’s time for Congress to move this effort forward and let the FDA begin the process of developing a rule that makes sense for everyone.
Burton Eller is the Executive Director of Grange Advocacy at the National Grange.
