Tamper-resistant blanks for Medicaid Patients
July 19, 2007
A tiny provision tucked into a spending bill for Iraq requires that prescriptions for Medicaid patients be written on “tamper-resistant” pads. But most doctors do not use such pads.
The law is designed to make it harder for patients to obtain controlled drugs illegally and easier for the government to save money. The start date leaves little time to educate doctors and pharmacists.
“Our members are absolutely flabbergasted that they’re going to be put on the hook for denying prescriptions if something is not on a tamperproof pad,” said Paul Kelly, vice president of government affairs for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores. “Our biggest fear is the negative impact this could have on patient care and access to prescriptions.”
Pharmacists’ groups have asked lawmakers and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to delay putting the law in place.
“Millions of Medicaid beneficiaries may not be able to obtain their medications after Oct. 1,” they said in a recent letter to lawmakers. “This could lead to higher Medicaid costs for emergency room visits, hospitalizations and physician office visits if medication cannot be obtained in a timely manner.”
Steve Hahn, a spokesman for the centers, said the agency has no plans now to change the Oct. 1 date. In the interim, it is consulting with health care providers and preparing guidance on how to comply with the law.
Several states already require tamperproof prescription pads, Hahn noted. They usually require them only for controlled drugs, those easily subject to abuse.
But health care providers in those states often had more than a year to prepare, Kelly said. New York, for example, had 18 months.
In this instance, many doctors are not even aware of the law.
President Bush had recommended the requirement for tamperproof prescription pads in his 2008 budget. The Congressional Budget Office projected that the requirement would save taxpayers $355 million over the coming decade, mainly through preventing fraudulent prescriptions.
(Via Associated Press)
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Although I concede that the Medicaid Rx blank rule is virtually ridiculous in the way it was designed, it does bring to mind a principle. When we write personal checks, we use a standard form, and with required security features on the paper. Perhaps it is time (and, WITH proper planning and a well-designed rollout) for the U.S. to adopt a national prescription form. Germany uses one; I know because I was there and inquired at a pharmacy in Berlin. Why should prescribers continue to be allowed to use as many different prescription forms as there are styles of shirts? Here is something that needs strict standardization, like the title to a car, or like paper currency.
indeed. as well as standards in pharmacy law nation wide.
I work in an area of Conneticut that is on the border of both Massachusetts and New York. 2 States with (in their own right) stricter pharmacy laws or some form of a prescription monitoring program than this state has. Customers can skirt the law simply by bringing their script across the border (such as no refills on controlled meds or requiring a Drivers liscence or SSN every time.