e-Profile Login and ID Quick Search
North Carolina News: Item 2150 - "Tamper Resistant" Prescription Pads for Medicaid Prescriptions
Reprinted from the October 2007 North Carolina Board of Pharmacy Newsletter.
Pharmacists in the state undoubtedly are aware that Congress amended the Medicaid statute to state that pharmacies will not be reimbursed for filling Medicaid prescriptions “for which the prescription was executed in written (and non-electronic) form unless the prescription was executed on a tamper-resistant pad.” 42 USC § 1936b(i)(23). There are innumerable policy concerns and questions that attend this amendment. Almost none of those questions were asked or debated because the amendment was tacked onto a defense appropriation bill without so much as notice to the pharmacy profession, much less any debate. Notwithstanding, the requirement is now law and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has not wavered from its intent to begin enforcement on October 1, 2007.
A number of pharmacists have asked Board staff what the Board intends to do with respect to this statute. The answer, put simply, is nothing. A prescription that does not meet the tamper-resistant standard is not “illegal” in any sense. Rather, it is simply ineligible for Medicaid reimbursement. Thus, the statute is purely a condition-of-payment regulation and thus not within the Board’s jurisdiction to “enforce.” Pharmacists with questions about this program should contact the North Carolina Division of Medical Assistance, CMS, or both.
