Tamper-Resistant
Prescriptions
to be implemented on April 1, 2008
Originally scheduled to begin October 1, 2007, a
new federal law mandating that all written, non-electronic
prescriptions for Medicaid recipients be written
on tamper-resistant pads has been delayed six
months.
On Saturday, September 29, 2007, President
George W. Bush signed the "Extenders Law,"
delaying the implementation date for all paper
Medicaid prescriptions to be written on
tamper-resistant paper. Under the new law, all
written Medicaid prescriptions must be on tamper
resistant prescription pads as of April 1, 2008.
CMS will issue additional guidance on this
implementation delay as it becomes available.
CMS' guidance on the tamper-resistant law,
set forth in an August 17, 2007 State Medicaid
Director letter, contains two phases. For the
first, a prescription must contain at least one
of the three tamper-resistant characteristics in
order to be considered "tamper-resistant." For
the second, prescriptions must contain all three
characteristics. The two-phased approach will
still be in effect. At least one of the three
tamper-resistant characteristics is required on
April 1, 2008. All three characteristics are due
on October 1, 2008.
In the interim, the Alabama Medicaid Agency is currently working
with state physician and pharmacy associations
regarding Alabama policy changes to ensure
compliance for the April 1 and October 1 implementation dates.
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