After October 1, 2007, Medicaid Beneficiaries Might Have Trouble Obtaining Medications Under the New Medicaid Prescription Rule

As reported by the AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a new law goes into effect after October 1 that requires pharmacists to reject any Medicaid recipient's prescriptions not written on tamper-resistant pads.

It is expected that millions of Medicaid patients will be affected by this new law. Where did this law come from?

As noted by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the law is “[a] tiny provision tucked into a spending bill for Iraq. The purpose of the law is to make it harder for patients to obtain controlled drugs illegally and easier for the government to save money.

The problem is that most doctors do not use such prescription pads and “[t]he quick start date leaves little time to educate doctors and pharmacists.” Such tamper proof prescription pads are not entirely new and are already implemented by a number of states.

However, most of the states that have already implemented the prescription pads have had more time to prepare the physicians and pharmacists.

In the same article, Dr. Edward Langston, chairman of the board of trustees for the American Medical Association, noted that “’[t]he implementation timetable [for the October 1 date] ] is too short to educate prescribing physicians about the new law and is also likely too short to produce and distribute the enormous quantity of new prescription pads that will be needed.’" (KEVIN FREKING, Associate Press, July 18, 2007, Seattle Post-Intelligencer (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/324220_medicaid19.html))