ALBANY – Five years after New York Lawyers for the Public Interest filed a civil rights complaint with then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to challenge the language barriers many people faced in pharmacies, the Legislature has included a provision in the 2012-13 budget requiring chain and mail-order pharmacies across New York to provide translation and interpretation services for patients with limited English.
The measure, which is part of a package of budget bills passed before the April 1 start of the next fiscal year, also directs the state departments of education and health to develop requirements to standardize medication labels so they are easier to read and understand.
