State Board of Pharmacy; 77 South High Street, Room 1702; Columbus, Ohio 43215-6126

Tel: 614/466-4143 Fax: 614/752-4836 Eml: exec@bop.state.oh.us

Electronic Prescription Transmission Systems

(10/06/04)

Electronic prescription transmission systems allow prescriptions to be sent electronically from a prescriber to a pharmacy. The prescriber can send the prescription directly from his/her computer to a pharmacy computer or facsimile machine. Some of the systems are office-based, some are web-based, and some use a switching station to route the prescription to the pharmacy. The office-based systems allow the prescriber to send a prescription electronically directly from his/her office to the pharmacy. The web-based systems allow the prescriber to log onto a website, enter a prescription, and the website sends the prescription to the pharmacy. Systems utilizing a switching station allow the prescriber to enter a prescription that is transmitted to a switching station. The switching station identifies the prescriber using specific data elements and then sends the prescription to the pharmacy.

Prior approval by the Board of Pharmacy is required for all electronic prescription transmission systems intended to be used in Ohio. The Board approval process includes reviewing that each system has true “positive identification” of the prescriber sending the prescription as defined in paragraph (N) of Rule 4729-5-01 of the Ohio Administrative Code (OAC), that every system has security and accountability of all confidential information, that the pharmacist receiving the prescription can identify that the system has approvable status with the Board of Pharmacy, and that the pharmacist receiving the prescription can identify that the prescription is legitimate.

Some important information you should know about electronic prescription transmission systems:

1.	No Schedule II controlled substances shall be sent to a pharmacy using an electronic prescription transmission system.
2.	There can be multiple prescriptions, including controlled substances in Schedules III, IV, and V, issued on one prescription blank when using an electronic prescription transmission system to send a prescription to a pharmacy [see OAC Rule 4729-5-13].
3.	“Dispense As Written” or “DAW” does not have to be handwritten on a prescription sent through an electronic prescription transmission system [see Section 4729.38 of the Ohio Revised Code (ORC)]. It does, however, require a positive action by the prescriber to physically select “Dispense As Written” or “DAW” when creating an electronic prescription. The electronic prescription transmission system cannot automatically default to "Dispense As Written" or "DAW".
4.	You may, or may not, see a signature on a prescription sent to a pharmacy by a prescriber using an electronic prescription transmission system. Electronic signatures are not recognized as a means of “positive identification” and therefore are not required. If a signature is present, the prescription must indicate that the signature was computer-generated.
5.	A prescriber may elect to print a prescription from the electronic prescription transmission system in his/her office and give it to the patient to personally present to a pharmacy. The prescription must be issued as per any written prescription [see OAC Rules 4729-5-30 and 4729-5-13]. These prescriptions may contain a Schedule II controlled substance, there can only be one controlled substance per prescription blank, “Dispense As Written” or “DAW” must be handwritten, and the actual handwritten signature of the prescriber must be on the prescription.

The systems that currently have obtained an approvable status with the Board of Pharmacy are:

A4 Health Systems Allmed Allscripts Alteer Amicore ChartLogic DrFirst

eInformatics e-Clinicalworks E-Physician Health Probe Healthramp InfoScribeRx I-Scribe

Medent Medical Manager/WebMD Medry/R-Referral OnCall Data Pocket Scripts RxMadeSimple RxNT

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