Revised Regulation Allows DEA-Registered Pharmacies to Transfer Electronic Prescriptions at a Patient’s Request
DEA Headquarters
Patients now have the ability to request their electronic prescription be transferred to another pharmacy without having to go back to their practitioner to initiate the request. This revised regulation went into effect on Monday, August 28, 2023.
At a patient’s request, a DEA-registered retail pharmacy can now transfer an electronic prescription for a controlled substance (schedules II-V) to another DEA-registered retail pharmacy. Prior to this change, patients would have to go through their practitioner to cancel their prescription and have it re-issued to a different pharmacy. The process was taxing and time consuming for both patients and practitioners.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) published its intent to revise the process for transferring electronic prescriptions on November 19, 2021. The final rule was published in the federal register on July 27, 2023 and went into effect 30 days later.
Under the final rule, a prescription can only be transferred once between pharmacies, and only if allowed under existing state or other applicable law. The prescription must remain in its electronic form; may not be altered in any way; and the transfer must be communicated directly between two licensed pharmacists. It’s important to note, any authorized refills transfer with the original prescription, which means the entire prescription will be filled at the same pharmacy.
Additional information about transferring electronic prescriptions can be found here.
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