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By Thomas E. Sullivan, M.D., and chief strategic officer of DrFirst

Physicians are no longer forced by the DEA to use paper-based prescriptions for controlled substances. E-Prescribing is now a viable option for these drugs, and it's poised to save physicians time and money, while improving patient safety.

A decade ago, physicians in growing numbers began to use electronic prescribing, directly transferring a prescription from their offices into a pharmacy's computer, bypassing the fax machine. This saves time and money for doctors, pharmacies and patients, and it also improves patient safety by eliminating confusion caused by illegible handwriting by doctors. But one problem persisted.

Physicians could not e-prescribe about 20 percent of their drugs – those for controlled substances for which they still had to use a paper-based system. The federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) prohibited such e-prescriptions, triggering an administrative headache, especially for surgeons who could e-prescribe some medicines but not most post-operative pain killers or sleeping pills.

That ban, though, is becoming a thing of the past. After a decade of industry lobbying to lift the e-prescription prohibition, the DEA lifted the ban in June 2010. But it imposed stringent security measures through its Interim Final Rule (IFR) that gave the green light for e-prescription services to move forward toward compliance. Now, using technology developed and provided by two partners, DrFirst – the nation's leading electronic-prescribing company – is ready to authenticate prescribers and allow them to send controlled substance prescriptions electronically. Its partners are Experian plc, a leading global information-services company, and Symantec Corp., a leading provider of security software and services.

DrFirst tapped the Experian and Symantec solution because, among other things, it supports the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) levels of assurance requirements (Special Publication 800-63) and, by doing so, also meets the DEA's regulations for prescribing controlled substances electronically. Access This Content To Read This Article In Its Entirety.