Newsroom > DHHS News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 7, 2008

CONTACT
Marla Augustine, Communications and Legislative Services, (402) 471-4047 or marla.augustine@dhhs.ne.gov

 

Prescribers to be Required to use Tamper-resistant Prescription Pads for Medicaid Program

Lincoln—On April 1, the state’s Medicaid Program, in compliance with federal law, will require prescribers to use prescription pads that have tamper-resistant features.

"The reason for this requirement is the prevention of fraud," said Vivianne Chaumont, Director of the Division of Medicaid and Long-Term Care in the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. "This will make it more difficult for anyone to alter a prescription."

A Medicaid prescription pad will be required to have one or more of the following features beginning April 1. By October 1, a Medicaid prescription pad must contain all three of the characteristics:

  • To prevent unauthorized copying of a completed or blank prescription form, it must have a high-security watermark on the reverse side, or thermochromic ink; or
  • To prevent erasure or modification of information written on the prescription by the prescriber, it must have tamper-resistant background ink that shows erasures or attempts to change written information; or
  • To prevent the use of counterfeit prescription forms, it must have sequentially numbered blanks, or duplicate or triplicate blanks.

Exempt from the tamper-proof requirements are prescriptions that are:

  • Faxed to the pharmacy from the prescribers office; or
  • Telephoned to the pharmacy by the prescriber or
  • Prescribed electronically.

Emergency fills for prescriptions written on non-tamper-resistant pads are permitted as long as the prescriber provides a verbal, faxed, electronic or compliant written prescription within 72 hours after the date on which the prescription was filled.

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