Although doctors had been eprescribing medications for some time, the Drug Enforcement Administration--DEA--ruled that prescribing of controlled substances is now legal in the United States, effective June 1, 2010. Critics had concerns that eprescribing would not be secure. Many pharmacists, however, believe it to be a more secure way of prescribing, and safer than calling controlled substances in to the pharmacy by telephone or even writing on prescriptions blanks. Paper prescriptions can be forged and calls over the telephone can be faked.
By contrast, the DEA ruled that eprescribing physicians provide at least two security items, such as a password, an electronic device that generates a random number, and/or a fingerprint or retinal scan. It may take some time, given these conditions, for eprescribing of controlled substances to become widely used, even for doctors who are already electronically prescribing regular medications.
How ePrescribing Works
After the physician logs securely into a pharmacy's eprescription system, he or she chooses the patient--previously entered into the system--and the computer runs an eligibility check in real-time on the patient. The system then shows the patient's information history and checks the patient's formulary information from their health plan. If a medication is selected that may cause the patient a drug interaction or to which the patient is allergic, the system will show a warning and offer alternate drugs. The system will also alert the eprescriber if the medication is not in the formulary, or covered, in the patient's insurance plan. In other words, if the patient's insurance company will not pay for a particular drug, the system will offer alternate choices.
In general, eprescribing is considered beneficial to the patient, the physician, and the office staff. Because the system saves the patient's medication history, it is more efficient and saves office staff time in charting prescription information. The system provides the eprescriber up-to-date warnings and alerts from the FDA--Food and Drug Administration--regarding certain drugs. The system also alerts physicians of drug diversion activities--anyone overusing prescription medication and requesting too many prescriptions, because the drug history is available each time the prescriber uses the system.
The practice of eprescribing controlled substances has another benefit for patient safety in the reduction in handwriting errors, preventing patients from getting the wrong medication or a dosage that is too strong. The electronic system enables the pharmacy to fill prescriptions faster, reducing the wait time for patients. Overall, eprescribing of controlled substances is considered a safe, convenient and cost-effective process.