HARRISBURG — A group of state legislators led by Rep. Tedd Nesbit, R-8th, is trying to change the way doctors in Pennsylvania dispense the powerful opioid painkillers pegged as one of the culprits behind the state’s overdose crisis.

Nesbit introduced the legislation, House Bill 353, at a news conference on Monday in Harrisburg. The bill would require doctors to electronically transmit opioid prescriptions to a pharmacy, which is the way most other medications are dispensed in Pennsylvania.

The bill would update a state law passed in the 1990s that required doctors to hand write opioid prescriptions. Nesbit, who represents portions of Butler and Mercer counties, said that used to be the safest way for doctors to dispense the powerful and addictive drugs. But not anymore.

“Many times these prescriptions are falling into the wrong hands — stolen prescription pads or even lost or stolen prescriptions — all because state law mandates that prescriptions for opioids be written out by hand,” Nesbit said.

Nesbit noted that overdose deaths attributed to opioids have now overtaken car crashes as the leading cause of accidental death in Pennsylvania. In 2015 overdoses killed more than 3,500 people in Pennsylvania according to the Pennsylvania State Coroner’s Association.

The bill would also make it easier for the state’s fledgling prescription drug monitoring database, which was implemented last year, to track opioid prescriptions.

Nesbit called the bill a commonsense step that would help curtail the number of prescription opioids being funneled to drug dealers and addicts.

“This legislation is a relatively simple solution to at least reduce the diversion of controlled substances into the wrong hands,” Nesbit said. “Any efforts we can take to keep opioids and prescriptions for them from reaching those who abuse them is a step in the right direction and will save lives.”