The Drug Enforcement Administration's rule (the Rule ) permitting physicians to electronically prescribe controlled substances was issued on March 31, 2010 as an interim final rule with request for comment and became effective June 1, 2010. Since then, the Rule still has not been declared final and remains subject to change by Congress and/or the DEA.

The Rule allows physicians (and other DEA registrants) to transmit electronic prescriptions to pharmacies for Schedule II-V controlled substances, if the physician uses a compliant electronic prescribing application.2 Electronic prescribing applications that do not comply with the Rule may be used to prescribe drugs other than Schedule II-V controlled substances. A physician may also print the form from a non-compliant application and manually sign/deliver the form to prescribe for drugs that are not controlled substances. Physicians are not required to electronically prescribe controlled substances in Michigan. Instead, the Rule gives physicians this option. Before the Rule became effective, this option was NOT available to physicians, as the only way to legally prescribe controlled substances was with the use of a written prescription.

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