2019 California Standards for Accessible Design Guide (effective January 1, 2020 with July 1, 2021 amendments)

10. Prescription Drug Container Labels

From the Board’s website:

“The Board has led the development of advisory guidance on making prescription drug container labels accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired or who are elderly. This initiative was authorized by the “Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act" which President Obama signed into law in July 2012. A provision of the act (section 904) directs the Board to convene a working group to develop best practices for making information on prescription drug container labels accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired.

Shortly after the law was enacted, the Board formed the Working Group on Accessible Prescription Drug Container Labels, an 18-member stakeholder panel comprised of representatives from advocacy organizations and industry. The working group explored various access alternatives, including braille, large print labels, and auditory technologies such as “talking bottles” and radio frequency identification tags. In July 2013, it submitted to the Board its best practice recommendations for pharmacies on providing independent access to prescription drug container labels. These recommendations are advisory only, not mandatory, and will not have the force of guidelines or standards.

The law directed the National Council on Disability (NCD) to conduct an informational and educational campaign in cooperation with the stakeholder working group to inform the public, including people with disabilities and pharmacists, of the best practices. In June 2016, NCD issued a brochure on the best practices recommended by the Board's working group. The law also called upon the Comptroller General to conduct a review to assess the extent to which pharmacies are implementing the best practices and to determine whether barriers to prescription drug labels remain; the report was completed in December 2016.

Several national pharmacy chains now offer talking prescription information for blind customers: CVS (including its mail service company Caremark), Walmart, Walgreens, Rite Aid, and Express Scripts Pharmacy.

On March 18, 2014, CVS announced that it is providing ScripTalk talking prescription labels to customers with visual impairments ordering through cvs.com. The CVS initiative will ensure that cvs.com customers who are blind can access the critical health and safety information provided in a standard print prescription label. The Access Board Working Group’s Final Report Regarding Best Practices for Making Prescription Drug Container Label Information Accessible to Persons who are Blind or Visually-Impaired is referenced in section 3.2 and 3.5 of the agreement that led to the announcement. The agreement and announcement is the result of Structured Negotiations between CVS and the American Council of the Blind, the California Council of the Blind and the American Foundation for the Blind.”

More information can be found on the Access Board’s website at https://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/health-care/about-prescription-drug-container-labels