Law: Requiring Patient Identification Before Dispensing
What are Identification Requirement Laws?
Laws that require patients to provide identification prior to filling a controlled substance are designed to prevent prescription fraud and diversion by ensuring persons obtaining a prescription are who they claim to be. CDC included a law in this resource if it requires a person to identify himself or herself or requires or permits a pharmacist to request identification prior to dispensing a controlled substance. This might occur at the discretion of the pharmacist or in certain circumstances, e.g., the person has similar prescriptions from multiple practitioners or the prescription was written in another state, or the prescription was not covered at least in part by a health plan.
Among the laws requiring identification prior to dispensing, CDC identified a subset requiring that a pharmacy submit a patient’s “identification number” to the state prescription drug monitoring program. “Identification number” is defined as the unique number contained in the state-issued valid driver’s license of the recipient and/or the person for whom the drug is intended, a valid military identification card, a valid identification card issued by the bureau of motor vehicles, or an assigned unique identification number that could be linked to other personal identifiers.
States with Laws Requiring Patient Identification before Dispensing
22 States: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia
Note: All laws enacted as of August 31, 2010.
Features of Identification Requirement Laws by State
Features | Aspects of Feature |
States |
Circumstances under which identification (ID) is required before dispensing |
All controlled substances |
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If person is unknown to pharmacist |
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At the discretion of the pharmacist (includes statutes that require an ID, but only to the extent that the pharmacist is satisfied) |
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When certain criteria are present (e.g., patient pays in cash, patient has prescriptions for the same or similar controlled substance from more than one practitioner) |
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For out-of-state prescriptions |
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If prescription is not covered at least in part by a health plan |
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Types of ID required |
Photo ID |
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"Positive" or "appropriate" (or similar language) documents/ID |
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Government ID |
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If person filling prescription does not have ID, pharmacist may still dispense if |
Pharmacist can confirm ID and/or the validity of the prescription by other means |
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Pharmacist determines that a detriment to patient will result otherwise |
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Documentation requirements for the pharmacist |
Must record "unique number" and/or ID source |
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Obtain photocopy of ID |
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Capture patient’s signature |
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Record in specific location |
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Unique ID number must be reported to electronic database |
N/A |
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