E-Prescribing Requirement January 14, 2022 Opioids/Substance Use electronic prescription, e-prescribing, pharmacy, prescribing Background For background information about the law, please visit the CMA webpage which contains a concise, thorough overview of the requirement. CMA's FAQ page is also available to members. Board of Pharmacy Issues Guidance on Written Scripts ACCMA has received reports of pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions not transmitted electronically since provisions of Business and Profession Code (BPC) section 688 – which requires most prescriptions to be issued and received as electronic data prescriptions (or e-prescriptions) – took effect January 1, 2022. The Board of Pharmacy (BOP) has clarified that pharmacists are not required to verify that a written, oral, or faxed prescription falls under one of the exceptions of the e-prescription law; and pharmacists may continue to dispense medications from legally valid written, oral, or faxed prescriptions pursuant to law. Thus, under BPC section 688, pharmacists can fill a legally valid written, oral or faxed prescription if the only issue is that the prescription was not received electronically. BOP advises that when deciding whether to refuse to dispense an otherwise legally valid written, oral or faxed prescription solely because it was not transmitted electronically, a pharmacist should consider the impact on the patient and continuity of care. Click here for a copy of the notice, which can be provided to pharmacies if you believe a refusal is unjustified. E-Prescribing Webinar CMA recorded a webinar in June on Preparing for California’s Electronic Prescribing Mandate, available on demand here. As a member, you can view this webinar for free. Click here for the slides from the CMA webinar. Slide 20 has a link to a list of vendors with stand-alone e-prescribing systems. Short List of E-Rx Systems As a time saving measure, the ACCMA has solicited recommendations from trusted sources that may be good options for some physicians who do not already have e-prescribing capability. Please note that the ACCMA has not evaluated and does not endorse any of these solutions, and cannot comment on whether they will work well for you. The following systems have the capability to do Electronic Prescribing of Controlled Substances (EPCS). That’s doubly important for Medicare patients, as it will be required in Medicare starting on January 1, 2023. They are also all SureScripts certified vendors, which will give the most expansive list of pharmacies a doc can send prescriptions to. 1. iPrescribe 2. RXNT 3. MDToolBox In addition, there is at least one free option: Capterra