Beginning next week, New York physicians will have to say goodbye to their prescription pads and hello to electronic prescriptions.

This new law follows the 2012 law I-Stop, which was created in hopes of decreasing and preventing opioid abuse. Within this law, the internet tracks patients’ prescriptions, requires physicians to check a monitoring system before prescribing certain medications and educates physicians and pharmacists on pain medication awareness.

New York is the first state to require all prescriptions to be sent electronically. Physicians who do not comply can be faced with fines and even imprisonment. Minnesota also requires that prescriptions be electronic, but the state does not penalize those who do not follow.

Sending prescriptions electronically will stop people from changing their prescriptions on the written pads and will also reduce the errors from bad handwriting.