Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has recently signed the State’s electronic prescribing mandate into law. Illinois House Bill 3596 mandates healthcare providers to electronically prescribe all controlled substance medications with an effective date of January 1^st, 2023.

The Illinois mandate contains the most concise language seen from any state mandate thus far, totaling just over 200 words. The mandate allows for providers who prescribe less than 25 prescriptions in a calendar year an exception for complying with the law. Currently, there are no penalties for non-compliance listed in Illinois.  The Act states that violations shall not be grounds for disciplinary actions.  The bill states that the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation will establish rules and requirements around implementing further exemptions.

Illinois Figures & Statistics

Illinois is currently above the national average for opioid-related overdose deaths, with roughly 17 deaths per 100,000 people when comparing the population of the State in 2018 to the number of overdoses provided. Prescription opioid overdose deaths continued to gradually rise until rising more sharply in 2015, then began to fall after 2017.[1] Illinois has passed legislation attempting to tackle their Opioid dependence issues.  Laws passed in 2010 and 2015 made Opioid Reversal drugs progressively easier to obtain and increased training initiatives involving law enforcement, schools and emergency responders.  In 2017 the State allocated federal funds for education and addiction treatment throughout the state including establishing an Opioid Crisis hot-line that is accessible 24 hours per day.  Illinois currently requires prescribers to consult the State PMP database when prescribing.

Illinois has a 50.4% prescriber enablement for electronic prescribing of controlled substances, well below the national average of 67.1%. Pharmacy enablement in Illinois for EPCS is 96.6%, just above the national average of 96.1%[2] MDToolbox encourages providers not to wait until the last minute to setup electronic prescribing.

Please see our website for other states that have either passed or have pending legislation that mandates electronic prescribing. MDToolbox looks forward to providing tools and resources to assist providers throughout Illinois to ease the transition and help our customers combat the opioid epidemic. With MDToolbox, providers have access to tools such as Electronic Prescribing of Controlled Substances (EPCS) and convenient on the go e-prescribing with our mobile app! We offer a free 30 day free trial, so Contact us for more information!

[1]https://www.drugabuse.gov/drug-topics/opioids/opioid-summaries-by-state/illinois-opioid-involved-deaths-related-harms

[2]https://surescripts.com/enhance-prescribing/e-prescribing/e-prescribing-for-controlled-substances/