This is just a quick post by way of getting the word out.  NetSPI put out a press release this morning about the successful DEA EPCS certification for Cerner.  For those of you that aren’t familiar with DEA EPCS, the EPCS stands for ‘Electronic Prescription of Controlled Substances’.  So – the DEA allowing healthcare software to handle prescriptions of certain types of drugs electronically.

Up until recently the DEA only allowed electronic prescriptions of less dangerous or less habit-forming medications, but they issued regulations about 18 months ago that would allow for the handling of controlled-substances via electronic prescription if the software/solution could demonstrate compliance with a very strict set of security controls.

The industry has been working to get this done and NetSPI is working with a large number of the biggest solutions providers (like Cerner) on certification.  It’s a much bigger deal than passing something like the CCHIT security standard as the requirements of the DEA’s Interim Final Rule (IFR) are very robust for the healthcare industry and our involvement with clients goes well beyond certification.  We end up working with these clients in a consulting partnership – helping to guide decisions about a wide range of technical and operational issues that need to be addressed prior to being able to successfully certify.

In any case, the industry is getting to the point where the big players are now beginning to successfully certify and we have (2) of the biggest EHR vendors through the process successfully.  Cerner saw the value in the press release and there we are… 

So – here’s the link: 

Cerner Certified as Compliant with Rigorous DEA e-Prescribing for Controlled Substances (EPCS) IFR

and we posted our DEA EPCS preparatory webinar out to YouTube as well.  That links is here:

DEA EPCS – What you need to know to certify