Are You EPCS Ready? The National Compliance Deadline is Less than Two Years Away
On October 24, 2018, President Trump signed into law the “SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act,” landmark legislation designed to address America’s opioid abuse epidemic—a crisis that claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people in 2016.
This new law is the most prominent among the several federal and state mandates that are increasingly prompting providers and healthcare delivery organizations to implement electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS). Most notably, the new federal legislation includes an electronic prescribing requirement for all controlled substance prescriptions for a covered Medicare part D drug under a prescription drug plan (or an MA–PD plan).
The deadline to comply with this section of the new law is already looming – requirements take effect on January 1, 2021. Given the challenges of aligning with these new requirements, the pressing question for all healthcare organizations becomes clear: are you ready?
To help you prepare, Imprivata recently launched EPCS Ready, a comprehensive online resource center to prepare healthcare organizations to meet the EPCS requirements outlined in the new federal law.
In addition to federal compliance, EPCS Ready will also help organizations comply with state EPCS requirements. To date, 13 states (NY, ME, CT, AZ, NC, RI, IA, OK, TN, VA, MA, CA, and PA) have already enacted legislation containing full EPCS mandates for controlled substances prescribed in those states.
To comply with federal and state EPCS laws, healthcare delivery organizations and providers must meet the DEA requirements for EPCS, which are very specific and require a detailed, highly collaborative cross-functional project plan. EPCS Ready is designed to help healthcare organizations understand the DEA requirements and achieve EPCS success, starting with implementing the right technologies and processes to achieve compliance. The comprehensive online hub includes:
For health systems, the benefits of EPCS often go beyond safety and security – they also include bottom-line savings. The Geisinger Health System, for example, recently released data demonstrating that electronic prescribing, in conjunction with other safety and security measures, helped reduce overall opioid prescribing by approximately 50 percent. Geisinger also estimates that they are saving more than one million dollars per month by using EPCS.