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DEA seeks multiple registrations for doctors practicing in multiple states

Ambulatory Surgery Reimbursement Update, January 11, 2005

Life may be getting a little more difficult and expensive for physicians who prescribe controlled substances and practice in more than one state.

According to an item posted in the Federal Register on December 7, 2004, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) wants physicians to obtain separate DEA controlled substance prescribing registrations for each state in which they practice. The registration fee for physicians is $131.

"DEA proposes to amend its regulations to make it clear that when an individual practitioner who practices and is registered in one state and seeks to practice and prescribe controlled substances in another state, he/she must obtain a separate DEA registration for the subsequent state," the Federal Register stated.

"It is definitely not the greatest thing in the world, and I don't see how it will have any advantage at all," Laxmaiah Manchikanti, MD, medical director of the Pain Management Center of Paducah and the Ambulatory Surgery Center of Paducah, both in Kentucky, told the American Medical News. "I don't know why the DEA is so worried about this. It should keep the system the way it is."

Manchikanti told the American Medical News that he was less concerned with the cost, and more with the registration process, which can take two weeks or more. He also worried that physicians might write incorrect registration numbers, or that patients may face legal issues if they received a prescription in one state and filled it in another.

Physicians have until February 7 to comment on the proposed rule, which can be viewed by clicking here.

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