Effective January 1, 2022, Senate Bill 0166 (CH0299)/House Bill 0512 (CH0230) (2020) Drugs and Devices – Electronic Prescriptions – Controlled Dangerous Substances requires licensed health care providers to electronically prescribe prescriptions for controlled dangerous substances. The Health General Article, 21-220(C) provides exceptions to this requirement, and the requirement to request a waiver. A health care practitioner who is unable to electronically transmit prescriptions for controlled dangerous substance drugs may request a waiver from the electronic prescribing requirement under certain circumstances. A waiver, if granted, may not exceed one year.
Pharmacists: A pharmacist may continue to accept handwritten prescriptions. This bill allowed for a waiver and multiple exceptions. Many of the exceptions would be difficult for a pharmacist to verify. Therefore, the bill stated that a pharmacy is not required to verify the ability of a provider to issue non-electronic prescriptions. While a pharmacist does not need to verify that the prescription is an authorized exception to the electronic prescription requirement, the pharmacist must still follow due diligence requirements to ensure the prescription is written for a legitimate medical purpose.
Providers: If you are a provider that is unable to issue controlled substance prescriptions electronically, please visit the OCSA website. On the left panel, select the “Electronic Prescribing Waiver Request". Please read the page completely to verify the need for a waiver. If you meet the criteria for one of the listed exceptions, you do not need to apply for a waiver or issue controlled substance prescriptions electronically. If you are required to apply for a waiver, click the link at the bottom of the page to submit an application for a waiver.
The effective date of the state law aligned with the comparable federal law (Section 2003 of the SUPPORT Act). In December 2020, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented the first phase of this mandate by naming the standard that prescribers must use for e-prescribing transmissions and delaying compliance actions until January 1, 2022.
On November 2, 2021, CMS announced they are delaying the start date for compliance actions to January 1, 2023, in response to stakeholder feedback. In order to maintain alignment with the federal government, MDH is also delaying compliance actions to January 1, 2023.
To view existing electronic prescribing waiver recipients, visit the Online Waiver Verification page.
