What is the status of electronic prescribing for controlled substances?
On September 11, 2011, Surescripts announced that it had
upgraded its nationwide network to support electronic prescribing
of controlled substances (EPCS). In addition to its deployment of
the network upgrade, Surescripts has begun its initial
certification of prescriber software vendors and pharmacy
applications for EPCS. Certified vendors and pharmacies have, in
turn, begun the initial deployment of EPCS in the United States.
The deployment involves a select number of certified and audited
vendors and their users located in states where EPCS is
legal.
The announcement represents an important step in the industrywide
collaboration between pharmacies, technology vendors, pharmacy
benefit managers, Surescripts and other networks to plan and
implement support for U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and
state pharmacy board rules.
For this initial deployment of EPCS, Surescripts is actively
monitoring the end-to-end characteristics of EPCS usage. Aspects
such as physician credentialing, workflows, processing times,
quality and others are being actively monitored across the
Surescripts network as well as for participating vendors,
prescribers and pharmacies. At the completion of this initial
monitoring period, which currently is planned to end later this
year, Surescripts will make EPCS support available to all
appropriately certified participants.
All software vendors and pharmacies that have developed their own
software systems must complete Surescripts certification and
DEA-required third-party audits before connecting to the
Surescripts network for EPCS. Surescripts will be supporting both
of the DEA-recognized approaches to securely signing a prescription
- i.e., supporting both public key infrastructure and the
indication of a signing "flag." By establishing a framework by
which prescribers can electronically prescribe controlled
substances, the DEA provided a path for prescribers to manage all
their prescriptions within an electronic workflow, rather than
separate paper-, telephone- and fax-based methods for controlled
substances and electronic processes for all other
medications.
In order to electronically prescribe controlled substances, some
of the major DEA requirements prescribers must adhere to
include:
- Use of an e-prescribing application that is certified for this purpose.
- Completion of a compliant identity-proofing process.
- Use of a secure, two-factor authentication process to sign prescriptions for controlled substances.
