Request for the Veterinarian’s DEA and/or NPI Number

Gabapentin: A Drug of Increasing Abuse

Gabapentin is a useful medication for pain management in animals, but is now recognized as a drug of human abuse. Purportedly, those abusing gabapentin are snorting or injecting the powder or are taking more than the recommended dose. As a result, tracking of prescriptions and dispensing by health care providers and pharmacies for human use are now monitored by the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy's Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP). This system, in parallel use in many states, was established to protect the public in response to the increasing abuse of controlled substances. Why was this change necessary for a non-controlled substance? Over the past several years, Minnesota's healthcare providers have witnessed gabapentin misuse firsthand. Providers in northwestern Minnesota and those near specific reservations asked that gabapentin be added to the PMP. Further research indicated abuse in many other areas of the state. A common ploy for obtaining early refills of gabapentin was a claim of a lost or stolen prescription. Abusers were paying cash for the medication so their claims would not be tracked, making it easier to pharmacy shop. Many pharmacies subsequently chose to treat gabapentin like a controlled substance with stricter refill procedures, as a means to combat the problem. Now, reporting prescriptions or dispensing of gabapentin is a legal requirement for human health care providers and pharmacies. (Contributed by the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy's PMP Program).

Note: Veterinarians who dispense any prescriptions under Minnesota Statute 156.18 are exempt from reporting the dispensing of controlled substances or gabapentin for outpatient use to the Minnesota PMP. If a prescription is written to an outside pharmacy, the prescription will be reported. A veterinarian who suspects that someone else may be using his or her DEA number illegally can sign up for PMP access to see prescriptions associated with their number. A veterinarian may NOT look up the owner of an animal and may only search the database by the animal's name.

Request for the Veterinarian's DEA and/or NPI Number

After receiving numerous calls from veterinarians, the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy published the following information in the April, 2015 edition of its quarterly newsletter:

Various practitioners have complained to the Board office that pharmacies are calling to request a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration number even when the prescription in question is not for a controlled substance (CS). In addition, veterinarians have called to complain that pharmacies are indicating that they cannot fill prescriptions without having the veterinarian's National Provider Identifier (NPI). Minnesota Statutes ?152.11, Subdivision 2a states that "A prescription need not bear a federal drug enforcement administration registration number that authorizes the prescriber to prescribe controlled substances if the drug prescribed is not a controlled substance in Schedule II, III, IV, or V. No person shall impose a requirement inconsistent with this subdivision." Therefore, pharmacists and pharmacies should not be requesting DEA registration numbers for non-CS prescriptions. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services addresses the issue of veterinarians and NPIs on its website with a FAQ that states, in part, "Veterinarians are not eligible for NPIs because they do not meet the regulatory definition of `health care provider' as defined at 45 CFR 160.103 . . . Please be advised that just because the Healthcare Provider Taxonomy Code Set has a code for Veterinarian does not mean a veterinarian is a `health care provider' and, thus, eligible for an NPI. Any entity that insists veterinarians obtain an NPI are attempting to require veterinarians to obtain NPIs fraudulently (i.e., because the NPI Application/Update Form and its Internet equivalent require that the NPI applicant indicate that he/she/it meets the regulatory definition of `health care provider' and a veterinarian does not)." Therefore, pharmacists and pharmacies should not be asking veterinarians to provide an NPI. Veterinarians who are asked by pharmacists to provide a DEA for non-controlled substance prescriptions, or a NPI for any prescriptions, do not need to supply the requested information. Veterinarians can report such requests to the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy. The Pharmacy Board is particularly interested in being alerted if the pharmacist refuses to fill a prescription on the basis of not receiving a DEA registration number or NPI. Contact information for the Board of Pharmacy is as follows: Email: pharmacy.board@state.mn.us Phone: (651) 201-2825

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