Patients who get written prescriptions will see changes this summer aimed at curbing fraud.
Come July 1, prescriptions will be printed on tamper-resistant paper with Mission Impossible-like ink that changes color when rubbed with a finger.
They also will have a teal green state seal, a map of Washington, a mortar and pestle and the words “Washington State Board of Pharmacy Board Approved Paper.”
The goal is to prevent people from using fake, stolen or altered prescriptions to get legal, commonly abused drugs such as Percocet, Ritalin or Demerol.
More than 53,000 health-care professionals in Washington can write prescriptions, including doctors, dentists, naturopaths and even veterinarians, said Susan Boyer, executive director of the Washington State Board of Pharmacy.
Statewide, 10 to 20 percent of prescriptions are sent to pharmacies electronically, she said.
The rest are printed or written on prescription paper that a patient submits to a pharmacy. After July 1, only prescriptions written on the state’s approved paper forms can be filled.
Washington’s new requirement follows California and New York in taking steps to require anyone who writes prescriptions to switch to more tamper-resistant prescription pads, Boyle said.
It’s unclear how much of a problem patients altering prescriptions actually is.
However officials believe misuse and abuse of prescription medications is growing in the state and nation, particularly with pain medications, said Donn Moyer, a spokesman for the state Department of Health.
“Using tamper-resistant products is one more tool in making it harder to alter prescriptions,” he said.
Medicaid, the federal-state low-income health insurance program, already has a similar requirement. Washington’s tamper-resistant prescription pads can be used for Medicaid prescriptions.
A Monroe printing business is one of 12 the state has authorized to produce the tamper resistant prescription pads. FMC-Merrill Corp. is getting calls almost daily from medical offices trying to get on waiting lists for the new product.
However, the business is waiting for the special paper to arrive, said David Fife, an account manager.
“It’s kind of a supply-chain problem,” he said. The pads should be ready to produce next month.
The company is buying from mills that produce special paper with built-in security features, such as a watermark.
“Then we print on it with ink that, when you put your thumb on it, it heats up and you know it’s real,” Fife said. The letters momentarily disappear and then in a few seconds turn back to red, he said. “That’s how the pharmacy knows that it’s an original and not a copy.”
The Everett Clinic wants to reduce its current stockpile of tamper-resistant Medicaid prescription pads before switching to the state’s new required prescription paper, spokeswoman April Zepeda said.
Only 10 to 15 percent of its 2.5 million annual prescriptions are written on paper, she said. Most are sent to pharmacies electronically.
However, prescriptions for some medications, such as narcotic pain relievers, must now be written out on paper, she said.
The new prescription paper “adds an extra layer of security,” Zepeda said.
Hadfield’s Pharmacy in Edmonds fills about 200,000 prescriptions a year, said Lee Baker, pharmacy director.
Only a limited number of companies can produce the new tamper-resistant prescription paper, Baker said. “That will help us deter fraud even further.”
Eric Werttemberger, pharmacy director at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, estimates that the changeover to the new tamper-resistant prescription paper could cost the hospital an additional $4,000 a year.
About 80 percent of hospitalized patients walk out the door with a prescription in hand, he said. That adds up to about 90,000 prescriptions annually, he said. Another 50,000 prescriptions are written for emergency room patients.
People trying to pass bogus prescriptions happens often.
“I guess it’s one more way of decreasing it,” Werttemberger said, “it’s a pretty common occurrence.”
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3496 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
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