As of June 1, the interim final rule, rolled out by The Drug Enforcement Administration (on March 24,2010) takes effect.

This clears the way for physicians, hospitals and pharmacies no prescription to prescribe controlled substances electronically. No longer will there have to be a separate paper process for controlled substances apart from the electronic prescribing of other medications in their emr systems.

The new regulation enables greater accuracy, cutting down the number of prescription errors due to illegible handwriting or poor oral transmission. The DEA hopes to see a decrease in prescription forgery while increasing efficiency and reducing paperwork.

According to Harry Totonis, Surescripts’ president, “Properly designed and implemented, we believe that the e-prescribing of controlled substances will have a positive impact on e-prescribing adoption and use, and significantly increase the efficiency and safety of a prescribing process relied on by millions of patients every day.”

Surescripts runs the largest e-prescribing network in the U.S.A.