The Drug Enforcement Administration has issued an interim final rule regulating electronic prescribing of controlled substances.
The
334-page rule also contains a request for comments. The rule affords prescribers the option of writing e-prescriptions for controlled drugs and also applies to pharmacies and hospitals.
According to a summary of the rule, it will “reduce paperwork for DEA registrants who dispense controlled substances and have the potential to reduce prescription forgery.”
“The regulations will also have the potential to reduce the number of prescription errors caused by illegible handwriting and misunderstood oral prescriptions,” according to the summary. “Moreover, they will help both pharmacies and hospitals to integrate prescription records into other medical records.”
The effective date of the rule is 60 days from its March 31 publication in the
Federal Register, but as a “major rule,” it is subject to congressional review and, consequently, its effective date could be adjusted.
