HHS finalizes HIPAA ‘partial fill’ rule for retail pharmacies

The Department of Health and Human Services Friday published a final rule requiring retail pharmacies, which include some hospital-owned pharmacies, to implement a modification to the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs D.0 Standard to identify “partial fill” prescriptions on health care claims for opioids and other Schedule II controlled substances. Proposed last January and effective March 24, the rule changes HIPAA requirements for using the standard’s quantity prescribed field to help prevent impermissible refills and better understand prescribing trends. For more on the rule, see the HHS bulletin.