New York Law Changes
Buoy's Law will officially take effect June 2023 in New York. This law has implications for veterinarians prescribing medications.
The exact text of the law can be found in full context here. Below is a copy of the text for reference.
1. Each time a veterinarian initially prescribes, dispenses, or provides medication to an animal patient in an outpatient setting, the veterinarian shall offer to provide, in person or through electronic means, to the client responsible for the animal, or his or her agent, a consultation that includes the following information:
(a) The name and description of the medication.
(b) Route of administration, dosage form, dosage, duration of drug therapy, the duration of the effects of the drug, and the common severe adverse effects associated with the use of the drug.
(c) Any special directions for proper use and storage.
(d) Actions to be taken in the event of a missed dose; and
(e) If requested and where available, a veterinarian shall provide documentation of precautions and relevant warnings provided by the drug's manufacturer.
2. The client, or an agent designated by the client, shall decide whether the consultation be provided in person or through electronic means.
3. It shall be noted in the medical record of the animal patient if the consultation described in this section is provided or declined by the client or his or her agent."
Recommendations and workflow suggestions
Our workflow recommendations for complying with this law are below, however, this cannot be considered or construed as legal advice. If you need specific legal advice for complying with this law, please contact your legal counsel.
Use Document Templates to comply with Buoy's Law
- Create Client Handouts linked to prescription items. This works to generate a pdf in sync with ordering the medication, easily print/email at the time of checkout, and store a copy in the medical record*. See How do I create and distribute handouts? for additional information.
- Obtain client signatures acknowledging the delivery of a Consultation. If you want to collect a signature on your documents, use the "Generate Patient Document" option on the patient's medical record to generate the document and collect a signature.
*Regarding both approaches, we recommend enabling the option Store generated document into the patient's medical record on the document template setting.
While support agents are unable to answer questions about the law specifically, please feel free to reach out to our support team for assistance implementing any of these workflow options.