Prescription Fraud Prevention

We at The Center for Drug Safety believe it's time for a frank discussion on the issue of prescription security. In addition, and by far more important, is time to take tangible and effective steps to not only combating this problem but virtually eliminating it. It is our belief the fundamental problem is asking patients that may be addicted to certain drugs to deliver the prescription to the pharmacy. This presents an almost irresistible temptation for someone addicted to a narcotic. It only stands to reason, in an effort to satisfy the intense avarice created by their addiction, they would attempt to alter the prescription to acquire more drugs for personal use or illegal sale. There have been innumerable attempts at dealing with this problem using so-called tamper proof paper of all types and since we still have huge problem, it seems obvious these methods have failed. We believe the only way to secure a prescription is to get the information out of the hands of the patient. We propose the following: In all cases and especially those of Class II and Class III narcotics, the prescribing physician and pharmacy should strongly consider following this very simple yet highly effective procedure. 1) The prescribing physician would use our system to create the prescription and either fax or email it to the pharmacy of the patient's choice. We are aware that many states have laws prohibiting the dispensing of Class II and/or Class III drugs based on an electronically delivered prescription but no state law prohibits the physician from notifying the pharmacy in advance of the patient bringing the hand signed version. Further, no state law prohibits the pharmacy from preparing the prescription in advance of the patient's arrival in an effort to enhance customer service and store efficiency. 2) Our system automatically notates where and when the prescription was sent on the bottom of the printed prescription directly above the area where the physician will sign. This allows the physician to further enhance security by letting some portion of their signature overwrite this time/destination stamp. This simple step dramatically increases the difficulty to copy their signature. In addition, the time/destination stamp does three things: a. First, it notifies the pharmacy as to exactly when the prescription was issued. Long delays generally cause suspicion. This suspicion is entirely justified, as medication of this strength is far more often than not urgently needed so long delays in picking up the prescription should raise red flags. b. Second, the knowledge that the, "clock is ticking" is a deterrent in of itself because it dramatically reduces the amount of time a patient has to alter the prescription before suspicion begins at the pharmacy. Physicians can enhance this by simply pointing out to the patient that delays often do cause pharmacies to scrutinize further so picking the prescription up in the timeliest manner possible is advised. c. It alerts other pharmacies that the patient may be attempting to have the same prescription filled repeatedly and gives them the information they need to check out this possibility, specifically where the prescription was intended to be filled. 3) The pharmacy should treat our faxed or emailed prescriptions as the trusted source of the incoming data. When the patient arrives with their hand signed version they should check the advanced information they have against that brought by the patient. Naturally, they must match exactly or fraud must be suspected and appropriate steps taken. The "checks and balances" method is a time-tested means of security because it works. Our system creates and independently delivers the same prescription to the same pharmacy, the very essence of effective checks and balances. 4) Finally, the prescription delivered by the patient containing the physician's original signature should be treated by the pharmacy as a "claim check" meaning the patient must exchange it for the actual prescription. The faxed or emailed copy can simply be discarded and the signed original becoming the pharmacies permanent record. And all of this can be done with only requiring the patient to make one trip to the pharmacy instead of the traditional two trips. It's clear the only patients that may become upset or uneasy about this system are those with less than honorable intentions. Otherwise, you can expect your patients to be thrilled with the added convenience and speed in getting their medications. Let's start working together to stop prescription fraud while simultaneously making prescription acquisition faster, easier and completely accurate for honest patients.