New York Doctors Now Required To Check Drug Database

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York doctors, physician assistants and nurse practitioners are now required to check the new statewide drug database before prescribing painkillers, with pharmacists responsible for recording the related prescriptions they fill.

The law was enacted last year and took effect Tuesday. It's meant to help practitioners review patients' drug histories through the state health department's online registry.

The department has advised the late surge of practitioners trying to establish database accounts to prescribe the old way while the backlog is cleared.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman proposed the law. He says the Internet System for Tracking Over-Prescribing should help reduce dangerous misuse of potentially addictive prescription painkillers by requiring some 50,000 practitioners to check the database. That should "send up a red flag" if patients are hoarding drugs from several sources.