TMPPM 2010 > Volume 1, General Information > Appendix B: Vendor Drug Program > Vendor Drug Program > Tamper-Resistant Prescription Pads

B.1.3 Tamper-Resistant Prescription Pads

Providers are required by federal law (Public Law 110-28) to use a tamper-resistant prescription pad when writing a prescription for any drug for Medicaid clients. Pharmacies are required to ensure that all written Medicaid prescriptions submitted for payment to the VDP were written on a compliant tamper-resistant pad.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has stated that special copy-resistant paper is not a requirement for electronic medical records (EMRs) or ePrescribing-generated prescriptions. These prescriptions may be printed on plain paper and will be fully compliant if they contain at least one feature from each of the following three categories:

•Prevents unauthorized copying of completed or blank prescription forms

•Prevents erasure or modification of information written on the prescription form

•Prevents the use of counterfeit prescription forms

Two features that can be incorporated into computer-generated prescriptions printed on plain paper to prevent passing a copied prescription as an original prescription are as follows:

•Use a very small font that is readable when viewed at 5x magnification or greater and illegible when copied.

•Use a "void" pantograph accompanied by a reverse "Rx," which causes a word such as "Void" to appear when the prescription is photocopied.

For more information, refer to the HHSC Vendor Drug website at www.txvendordrug.com
/tamper_resistant_rx.html.