Delaware Approves Rule Requiring Physicians To Use Tamper-Proof Pads For Medicaid Prescriptions

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Also Included In: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP;  Pharmacy / Pharmacist;  IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 25 Oct 2007 - 9:00 PDT

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Delaware has approved a new rule that will require prescriptions for Medicaid beneficiaries to be written on tamper-resistant prescription drug pads, the Wilmington News Journal reports. Enforcement of the rule will begin in April 2008, after which Medicaid beneficiaries will not be able to fill prescriptions that are not written on the tamper-proof pads.

The prescription pads by April will need to have one tamper-proof characteristic. By October 2008, each pad will need to have three tamper-proof characteristics, according to the rule. The state plans to use the time between now and April to alert physicians of the rule change. Delaware passed the rule after Congress in May inserted a similar provision in a war spending bill. The federal law was set to take effect Oct. 1, but implementation was delayed until April. Some physicians "view the law as another deterrent to accepting" Medicaid beneficiaries because the tamper-proof pads are more expensive, according to the News Journal.

Doctors will be required to pay for the pads, which cost twice as much as nontamper-proof pads. Martha Roherty, director of health services for the National Association of State Medicaid Directors, said use of tamper-proof pads will encourage physicians to transition to an electronic prescription system, which is less expensive, more efficient and less susceptible to patient fraud (Ratnayake, Wilmington News Journal, 10/22).

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