April 2008               return to newsletter contents page

California Board of Pharmacy Delays E-Pedigree Implementation Until 2011

The California Board of Pharmacy, after weighing the state of the majority of industry, has decided to delay mandatory implementation of electronic pedigree. While acknowledging the efforts of parties that have pushed to comply with the January 2009 deadline, the board acknowledged that universal compliance would not be possible, and the efforts of the forerunners might be negatively impacted when working with parties that are not yet ready for compliance.

The new compliance deadline is January 1, 2011. This is the latest date allowable by current statute. Two bills are in the California Legislature: one mandating delay until 2011; another bill removes mandated deadlines, leaving full discretion on the implementation date to the Board of Health.

The full text of the California Board’s press release is available at http://www.pharmacy.ca.gov/laws_regs/delay_implementation.pdf.