The Benefits Of E-prescribing For Controlled Substances

By Author: Jim Miller
Total Articles: 2
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In 2010, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) modified its regulations and provided the regulatory framework to allow e-prescribing for Schedule II-IV controlled drugs. Currently, more than 16,000 pharmacies in 46 states are legally able to accept e-prescriptions for controlled substances, and these numbers continue to grow each month.

As a physician, it’s important that your practice consider implementing electronic prescribing software to safely prescribe controlled drugs electronically. By using an e-prescribing platform like Electronic Prescribing of Controlled Substances (EPCS) Gold℠2.0, your practice will receive these benefits:

· Prescribes schedule II-V drugs electronically, as well as non-controlled drugs, through one workflow, eliminating interruptions to your practice’s workflow

· Eliminates transcription errors

· Reduces risk of fraud, abuse, forgery, wrongful death, malpractice and lawsuits

· Provides clinical alerts for drug and allergy interactions, dosing and duplicate therapies, ...
... and conditions such as pregnancy

· Easy-to-use and easy-to-implement e-prescribing software solution

· Prevents patients from “doctor shopping”

· Increases your practice’s appeal among specialty practices by exceeding controlled substance e-prescribing requirements

· Avoids development, certification and maintenance of building your own e-prescribing platform in-house

· Compliant with DEA IFR Part 1311 and NIST-SP-800-63-1 Level 3 two-factor authentication and identity proofing requirements and process

· DEA IFR Part 1311L: third party audit approved

A number of e-prescribing companies are currently offering electronic prescribing functionality within their medical records software solutions. To learn more about electronic prescribing and EPCS Gold 2.0, click here.

About the Author:

This article was written by Jim Miller, director of quality assurance and compliance at DocuTrac, Inc. The medical records software company was founded in 1993 to deliver easy-to-use mental health documentation solutions through expertly designed, customizable, affordable and easy-to-use software. DocuTrac’s mission is to reduce the amount of time spent on paperwork that practitioners are required to submit so they can spend more time with their patients. Learn more about DocuTrac at www.docutracinc.com.