Electronic Prescriptions for Controlled Substances

Using ERx for Control Substances

There is a new column next to the drug name on the E-Rx -> 1. View Received Messages screen. If an E-Rx is for a controlled substance, there will be an image in that column. For non-controls, the column will be blank, as shown in the image below.

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The icon has a blue “C” to indicate it’s a controlled substance. If there is a green check-mark with the “C”, it means that our system was able to digitally verify the message. If there is a red “X” with the “C”, it means that our system was not able to digitally verify the message. If you hover over the icon, it will tell you why we were unable to verify the message.

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Electronic prescriptions for controlled substances have to include a digital signature or be verified using other electronic methods. The logic behind it gets a bit complicated, but basically it’s to ensure that the records was not altered in any way after it was sent by the prescriber.

When you click on a message, it will display whether the message was verified or not as well as how it was verified or why we couldn’t verify it. If the message couldn’t be verified, the control class of the drug will be displayed in red:

If a message can be verified however, it will display in green:

If prescriber wants to send an electronic prescription for a controlled substance, the prescriber’s software must also be certified for this function. There are ways that a pharmacy can check to see if a prescriber has the ability to send electronic prescription for controlled substances.

If a pharmacy wants to see which prescribers that are in their system have this ability, they can do so from Reports -> 1. Listings -> A. Prescriber Listing. Select the appropriate service level and generate the report.

If a pharmacy wants to see all the prescribers in their state that have EPCS functionality, they can do so from E-Rx -> B. E-Rx Prescriber Directory. Select the appropriate service level and generate the report.

When filling a controlled prescription that was received electronically, the prescription MUST be filled using the Fill Rx button from the screen displaying the original E-Rx message. Clicking the Fill Rx button allows the E-Rx message to be internally linked to the actual prescription record. This is necessary because the Message ID and Prescriber Order Number from the E-Rx message required for the purposes of controlled substance reporting, and linking the E-Rx message to the actual prescription record allows us to retrieve that information.

So if someone is filling a controlled prescription and they are putting an Rx Origin Code of “3 - Electronic”, the prescription must be linked to the original E-Rx message. Otherwise they will receive an error message and they will not be allowed to save the prescription.