Prescription Pad Requirements

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued specific requirements for the prescription pads that physicians and other health care professionals use to write their outpatient drug prescriptions. While CMS has outlined these requirements, the states are allowed to define the specifics of those requirements. The main requirement is that these pads must be tamper resistant.

Prevent Forgery

• CMS dictates that all prescription pads must be immune to forgery and unauthorized copying, whether it is a blank or completed form.

Prevent Prescriber Modification

• All information written on the prescription form must be unalterable, meaning the prescriber or another party must be unable to change or erase any information on the form.

Prevent Counterfeiting

• CMS-authorized prescription pads must be difficult if not impossible to counterfeit.

Exceptions

• There are a few kinds of prescriptions that are exceptions to the CMS rule, including e-prescriptions, faxed prescriptions, prescriptions called into the pharmacy by the prescriber, prescriptions transferred between two pharmacies (as long as the original pharmacy can confirm the authenticity of the prescription), prescriptions that are sent directly from the medical institution to the pharmacy, drugs that come directly from the clinic or doctor's office to the prescriber and emergency contraception.