New Prescription Law in California Causing Problems

According to the California Department of Public Health, about 2,000 Californians die annually from opioid overdoses. To address the opioid crisis, California, like many other states across the nation, continue to enact new laws that address the prescribing of opioid medications.

On January 1, 2019, Assembly Bill (AB) 1753 took effect. AB 1753, in short, requires: (1) prescription forms for controlled substance prescriptions to have a uniquely serialized number; (2) a specialized security printer to submit specified information to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for all prescription forms delivered, and (3) the information submitted by the dispensing pharmacy, clinic or other dispenser to the department include the serial number for the corresponding prescription form.

The unique serial numbers would be a combination of fifteen letters and numbers, meaning there would be over 45-thousand trillion potentially different combinations. Only publishers who are fingerprinted, pass a security check and are approved by the DOJ are authorized to print the new prescription pads.

The new security forms are now the exclusive means to write paper controlled substance prescriptions as of January 1, 2019, and any prescription written on a controlled substance prescription form that does not bear all of the 15 security features will be presumptively invalid.

Many physicians and clinics, however, were not able to purchase the updated forms prior to January 1, 2019, and could not be compliant with the requirements which caused serious barriers to patients who needed access to their medications in a timely manner.

The California State Board of Pharmacy, recognizing that its pharmacists were placed in the uncomfortable position of having to choose between providing much needed medications to patients and compliance with the law, immediately set a ‘make no enforcement’ ruling of compliance until July 1, 2019.

California pharmacists will need to continue to educate prescribers on the new law to ensure they are compliant by the July 1, 2019 ‘make no enforcement’ deadline.