During the 2018 General Assembly, the Iowa Legislature and Governor Reynolds enacted House File 2377 which included a mandate that, as of January 1, 2020, all prescriptions (controlled and non-controlled substances) must be transmitted electronically from prescriber to pharmacy. The Iowa Code identifies certain prescriptions which would be exempt from this mandate. The Iowa Code also authorizes the Board to grant temporary exemption to entities that may not be compliant by January 1, 2020. A temporary exemption may be considered for entities that can demonstrate economic hardship, technological limitations, or other exceptional circumstances.
RULES: The Board’s *proposed* rules relating to the electronic prescribing mandate can be found HERE. Information about submission of public comment(s) related to the rulemaking can be found in the Notice. The deadline for submission of public comment(s) is April 30, 2019. Additionally, the Board will hold a public hearing on May 7, 2019 at 9am at the Board offices to hear any additional comments which were not already submitted.
DRAFT APPLICATION FOR EXEMPTION: The Board’s *proposed* application for a temporary exemption can be found HERE. Note that the content of the application is based upon the proposed rules. As the rules are amended during the rulemaking process, so too will the application.
IOWA CODE: The Iowa Code section which relates to mandated electronic prescribing of controlled substances may be found in 124.308. The Iowa Code section which relates to mandated electronic prescribing of non-controlled substances may be found in 155A.27.
ELECTRONIC PRESCRIBING VENDORS: Upon request, the Board may provide you with information obtained from various vendors of electronic prescribing platforms, including DEA-compliant platforms. If you would like a copy of the information obtained by the Board from various electronic prescribing vendors, please send an email request to Amanda.woltz@iowa.gov.
OCIO MAP OF BANDWIDTH: The Office of the Chief Information Officer has developed a map to identify the status of bandwidth in Iowa. It may be found HERE.