What is EPCS (Electronic Prescription of Controlled Substances), Benefits, and Overview of Regulatory Requirements?

Did you know that the studies done by the CDC have revealed that in the year 2018, drug overdoses resulted in more than 70,000 deaths and of those, about two-thirds involved opioids or prescription drugs? The controlled substances were misused mainly because of the paper prescriptions and the theft of the Prescriber’s DEA number and its fraudulent use. As per the federal law, any prescription for the controlled substances was required to be issued in writing. However, the US Drug Enforcement Administration or DEA amended its regulations in June 2010. In order to reduce needless deaths, the DEA provided clinical practitioners with the option of issuing Electronic Prescriptions for Controlled Substances or EPCS to a pharmacy in lieu of a paper prescription. Any drug that has the potential for abuse or dependence is a controlled substance and is categorized in five Schedules. The potential of their abuse decreases as we move from Schedule 1 to 5. Even though the electronic prescribing for Schedule 2 through 5 controlled substances was legalized in the United States in the year 2010, many states did not allow Schedule 2 drugs to be e-prescribed then. But now, all drug schedules except Schedule 1 are legally allowed to be e-prescribed in all the 50 States. Moreover, more than 99% of the U.S. pharmacies are EPCS enabled thus allowing widespread adoption. The DEA legalized the use of EPCS as a technology solution for 2 main reasons. The first was to deter the rising prescription drug abuse. The second was to address the issue of fraudulent and stolen prescriptions by requiring prescriber authentication. It allowed the clinical practitioners to write and transmit controlled substance prescriptions electronically without exposing their DEA number and also permitted the pharmacies to receive it safely. DEA Rules require that a provider should first register with the DEA after which they would receive a DEA number to prescribe controlled substances. The provider is also required to maintain two-factor authentication tokens and passwords. The practitioner’s responsibilities are the same when prescribing electronically as they are with oral or paper prescriptions. DEA rules require the EMR technology to be a certified product. It ensures proper account creation, signing, and refilling of controlled substance prescriptions. The technology must allow prescribers to access identity verification as well as two-factor authentication. E-prescribing is now part of the “Every Prescription Conveyed Securely”, a mandate by the federal government which will take effect in 2021. Electronic prescribing with built-in features is one of the most effective ways to prevent drug abuse. DocVilla is EPCS certified and offers end to end solution for meeting DEA requirements for EPCS. DocVilla supports DEA approved two-factor authentication and provides e-prescribing workflows which providers love.