The Health and Human Services Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration are reviewing the feedback they have received on DEA proposed rule on e-prescribing for controlled substances, but the final rule might not emerge this year.
DEA published the proposed rule earlier this year, which would impose security requirements for e-prescribing of controlled substances. A public comment period expired Sept. 25. Groups representing physicians, pharmacies and health information technology vendors have expressed concern that the rule as currently written could impede adoption of e-prescribing.
Kerry Weems, acting administrator of HHS; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said DEA and HHS are reviewing the comments. Speaking at CMS; National E-Prescribing Conference in Boston this week, Weems said the goal is to address DEA concerns while creating a rule that doesn’t provide a barrier to e-prescribing.
Jodi Daniel, director of the Office of Policy and Research in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, said the final rule might not be on DEA to-do list for this calendar year. The presidential election could also push action into next year.
The change in administration…may slow things down; said Daniel, who also spoke at the conference.
Meanwhile, a Medicare incentive program that will initially provide a 2 percent bonus to physicians who adopt e-prescribing goes into effect Jan. 1, 2009.
Some experts say Deal’s current prohibition against e-prescribing controlled substances has blocked broader acceptance of the technology. The situation compels doctors who use e-prescribing to maintain a paper-based system for controlled substances and an electronic system for other drugs.
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