Missouri News: Electronic Transmission of Controlled Substance Prescriptions

May 1, 2007 3:17 pm Topics: Controlled substances

Published in the May 2007 Missouri Board of Pharmacy Newsletter

Board of Pharmacy regulation 20 CSR 2220-2.085 allows for the transmission of controlled substance (CS) prescriptions by electronic transmission as long as it does not violate other state or federal drug laws. However, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) currently does not allow the electronic transmission of CS prescriptions. Until such time that DEA allows such transmissions, a pharmacy may not accept CS prescriptions that are transmitted from a prescriber’s computer to a pharmacy’s computer or fax machine without verifying the prescriptions with the prescriber. These prescriptions do not qualify as faxed prescriptions because the Missouri Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs regulation 19 CSR 30-1.062 requires faxed prescriptions to bear the prescriber’s signature. This signature must be an actual signature not an electronically produced signature.