The new ISTOP Law went into effect this week. In order to comply practitioners prescribing controlled substances (Schedules II-IV)must have an active HCS Account.
For practitioners who are experiencing a slight delay in processing HCS accounts, the NYS Department of Health has issued the following statement:
“The updated Prescription Monitoring Program Registry is operational and has been available on-line since June 12, 2013. All users must access the PMP Registry through the Department of Health’s secure Health Commerce System (“HCS”). With the upcoming effective date of the I-STOP law requiring the use of the PMP Registry, a large late surge of practitioners are now submitting requests for HCS accounts.
“Although the Department of Health is working diligently to process all requests, this significant influx has resulted in a delay in processing accounts.
“During this transition period, practitioners who are making a good faith effort to apply but are unable to establish HCS accounts, should continue to provide treatment to their patients in the same manner as they currently do, including the prescribing of controlled substances without accessing PMP Registry. We expect this transition period to last through October.”