Contributed by Joel Zimba, Special Projects Coordinator, MDTAP<\/em><\/p>\n You’ve heard of the Safety and Innovation Act of 2012, right?\u00a0 Me either.\u00a0It is, however, a recent policy decision from the Food and Drug Administration.\u00a0Among other things, it requires pharmacies to provide drug information in a form which is accessible to “the blind, those with low vision and the elderly.”<\/p>\n Some time ago, we posted about the ScripTalk system, which reads electronic information embedded in the label of a medication bottle.\u00a0AccessaMed <\/a>provides yet another solution.\u00a0By\u00a0 attaching a small device to a bottle, the touch of a button will read all of the information accompanying the medication. The AccessaMed device is free to consumers.<\/p>\n These two solutions for\u00a0 providing access to pharmacy prescriptions appear to meet all of the requirements of the various laws (including the Americans with Disabilities Act) which now require participation from all pharmacies.\u00a0 Unfortunately, neither method guarantees accessibility for the deaf-blind.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is progress nonetheless; expect such technologies to become more and more common in the near future.\u00a0 Urge your local pharmacy to adopt AccessaMed or a similar system.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n