New Legislation Would Modernize Prescribing Information
The transmission of critical medical information is stuck in the past. Due to an outdated and unnecessary rule, pharmacies and healthcare providers still receive prescription drug information on paper, which is wasteful, harmful to the environment, and nonsensical. Legislation to update this process and bring common sense to the dissemination of this critical information has now been introduced in the Senate.
On August 4, 2026, Sens. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Cory Booker introduced S. 5242, the Prescription Information Modernization Act of 2026. This bill would allow drug manufacturers to transmit prescribing information to healthcare providers and pharmacies electronically, instead of on paper. The legislation also allows providers and pharmacies to continue to receive the prescribing information on paper if they choose. In a press release following the bill’s introduction, Sen. Banks said “doctors and pharmacists shouldn’t have to sort through stacks of paper to access information that’s already available digitally. My bill would eliminate waste, lower costs, and give healthcare providers faster, easier access to the prescribing information they rely on to keep their patients safe.” Sen. Booker said that the process is a “very unnecessary administrative burden in our healthcare system and is time stolen from patients and their providers. This bipartisan bill cuts the red tape on an outdated process and makes sure providers have the information they need, right when they need it.”
In 1962, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) adopted regulations requiring drug manufacturers to disseminate prescribing information to pharmacists and healthcare providers on paper. Although healthcare has modernized and uses electronic information in other areas, manufacturers are still required to send this information on paper. Each copy is 30-45 pages long and the process of formatting, printing, and sending each copy takes on average eight to 12 months. The information is often outdated by the time it is received.
The information that is transmitted from manufacturers to pharmacists and providers needs to be revised and updated, which causes this process to be repeated several times for the same drug. A July 2013 Government Accountability Office report noted that, “revisions can often be made to drug labeling as more data about the drug becomes available from its wider use by patients, according to FDA officials. In calendar year 2010, FDA reported 747 changes to drug labeling; this number increased to 975 in calendar year 2011, and to 1,257 in calendar year 2012. Because it takes time to print new labeling and incorporate it into packaging, some drugs that have already been shipped to their distribution points might be on the market with labeling that is out of date.” S. 5242 would eliminate this regulation and would end this redundant administrative burden. Today, healthcare professionals overwhelmingly prefer electronic prescribing information as it allows easy access to the most up-to-date drug details.
The FDA attempted to modernize this rule in 2014 and allow the information to be sent electronically in 2014, but Congress inserted a provision into an appropriations bill to block this rulemaking, which has been renewed annually.
S. 5242 would bring the process of transmitting prescribing information into the 21st century and would ensure that healthcare providers and pharmacists have access to prescribing information immediately. The House and Senate should quickly vote on and pass this legislation.
