Sacramento, CA – The Assembly Committee on Health unanimously passed Assemblyman Steinorth’s legislation, AB 2050, to ensure that patients with multiple prescription medications can synchronize them to be re-filled on the same date each month.
“Making multiple trips to the pharmacy each month is inconvenient, especially for seniors, the disabled, or people with chronic illnesses,” stated Steinorth. “Synchronizing the refill schedule of prescription medications is a simple, cost-free way to improve quality of life and achieve better health outcomes.”
While synchronization is theoretically possible under current law, the process is time consuming for pharmacists, requiring additional approval and review by health plans. In 2014, offering synchronization without extra hurdles of approval became a requirement for Medicare Part D beneficiaries. AB 2050 ensures this seamless process for synchronization is available to all health plan enrollees.
Synchronization not only improves patient satisfaction, but is an important tool to combat medication non-adherence. Studies show that 30 to 50 percent of Americans with prescriptions for chronic illnesses do not take their medications as prescribed; one cause can be failure to refill and pick up medications on time.
“California has an opportunity to improve medication non-adherence, particularly among the chronic disease population, by advancing legislation that promotes simple, intervention programs such as prescription refill synchronization,” stated Megan Maddox on behalf of the California Pharmacists Association. “AB 2050 will eliminate barriers to the implementation of medication synchronization, a service that has been shown to improve rates of medication adherence, thereby improving patient outcomes and lowering overall health care costs.”
AB 2050 will be referred to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations for further consideration.
Assemblyman Steinorth represents the 40th Assembly District which includes Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino, Highland, Loma Linda, and Redlands.
