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Ohio News: Tamper-Resistant Prescription Pads and Federal Law
Published in the November 2007 Ohio State Board of Pharmacy Newsletter
By now, everyone should be aware that President Bush signed HR 3668 on September 29, 2007, thereby delaying for six months the implementation of the requirement that all written Medicaid prescriptions be on tamper-resistant paper. The new effective date will be April 1, 2008. While that is a date that may strike some people as being appropriate for this type of a proposal, it should be assumed by everyone that this will probably be the only extension, although there will certainly be some continuing efforts made to amend or remove this requirement on the federal level. For right now, however, please assume that on April 1, 2008, doctors will be required to issue all written prescriptions for Medicaid patients on tamper-resistant forms. While the law requires the doctor to issue every prescription on the right form, the penalties for violations of this law will probably fall on the pharmacists who knowingly fill prescriptions that are written on incorrect forms and then bill Medicaid for the drugs. Please be aware that this is still coming and help your doctors prepare so we do not experience all the last-minute panic like we did in late August and September.
One additional aspect of this change in format is that the prescriptions that are written and then sent to the pharmacy via fax will now be coming through with “COPY” or “VOID” or another similar designation appearing on the fax when it arrives in the pharmacy. Please treat these as you would any other fax. If you are sure that the source of the fax is the prescriber’s office and it is a prescription issued legitimately, then please fill the prescription. As far as is known, it is impossible to fax one of these tamper-resistant forms without that warning appearing at the pharmacy end. Please use good judgment and take care of the patient as you have always tried to do.
