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In our previous blog, we tackled a few challenges of servicing multiple Skilled Nursing Facilities. Today, we are discussing another challenge – Electronic Prescriptions of Controlled Substances. This can be especially challenging if you service multiple Skilled Nursing Facilities. Again, these facilities most likely use software from different manufacturers.  This means if you are prescribing controlled substances, you no doubt have several EPCS Tokens; possibly one from each software manufacturer.  Keeping track of which EPCS token is for what facility can be cumbersome and frustrating, not to mention costly.

If you are like most LTC Physicians, you service multiple Skilled Nursing Facilities.  Each facility you go to has their own software where they track patient demographics, medications, allergies, diagnosis, insurance and a multitude of other pieces of information.  You probably have 5 different userids and passwords!  The software that these facilities use likely isn’t even the same manufacturer.  And some places you service might not even give you access to their software!  Wouldn’t it be helpful to have just one set of credentials?

There is a growing trend to provide additional support for the physician involvement in Long Term and Post-Acute Care. As most LTC physicians will attest, the majority of interaction at the facility is spent on patient care, providing orders (written or verbal) to the nursing staff, and various follow-ups regarding new and/or existing diagnoses, allergies, drug interactions, and orders. The nursing staff enters the orders on behalf of the physician directly in the facility software and sends them to the LTC pharmacy, with or without a final approval by the physician. What if you had access to all the information you need for patient care right at your finger tips?

03/28/2016 - PrescribersConnection®, LLC, the nation’s only Long Term Post-Acute Care focused ePrescribing solutions provider announces the latest release of PrescribersOrders certified for electronic prescribing of controlled substances. PrescribersConnection has again earned Drummond Group certification for its web based ePrescribing software, PrescribersOrders by PrescribersConnection. This time for electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS). To earn certification, ­­­­­­­­­PrescribersOrders was audited to ensure that it complied with the requirements delineated in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) EPCS Final Rule (Interim), 21 CFR Part 1300, 1304, 1306, and 1311. Drummond Group’s EPCS certification process, one of the first approved by the DEA, is designed to review prescriber and pharmacy applications with EPCS extensions for compliance against the DEA EPCS Final Rule. 

For New York prescribers, the deadline is nearly here. Effective March 27, 2016, electronic prescribing for both controlled and non-controlled substances will be required in New York State.

As of November 16, 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) officially removed the Part D ePrescribing Long Term Care exemption that precluded the transmitting of prescriptions electronically from Long Term Care facilities. These facilities must move to the NCPDP SCRIPT 10.6 ePrescribing standard by November 1, 2014.