The days of doctors penning down prescriptions that patients then take to the pharmacy are going to become a thing of past.

Beginning from March 27, New York is making electronic prescriptions compulsory in a move to make the process more effective and cut the cases of fraud and abuse.

In a statement, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that the reform is going to make patient safety better, cut the number of fraudulent or stolen prescriptions and help fight prescription drug abuse throughout New York.

However, the program has drawn concerns from doctors regarding the widespread work that was required to obey and doubt regarding provisions of law.

On Wednesday, while responding to the same, the state Health Department issued a memo, excusing doctors from following the law in 12 different cases, including a prescription containing long or complex directions.

The memo has come after the state already extended the deadline last year to obey. Originally, it was to start a year back.

The Health Department said that over 60,000 providers have been using the system, roughly 60% of all prescribers. Though, the state has also approved 2,600 waiver requests from practitioners, asking for more time to act this way.

Dr. Joseph Maldonado, president of the Medical Society of the State of New York, said that even now physicians have countless program-related questions.

He said, “It’s unclear at this point what we can say about the initiation of the program on the 27th. We don’t know how many physicians are actually prepared for it. There are many iterations of how physicians engage with patients to write prescriptions”.

It is a complex move as the doctors working in a number of offices, hospitals or nursing homes could have to use distinct computer programs for writing prescriptions. Besides, all health care providers have to spend in software, fulfilling the standards set by the state.