Health professionals in Illinois needs three things to be able to prescribe controlled substances. Do you know what they are? Choose 3.
A. A professional license that authorizes you to prescribe controlled substances
B. An Illinois Controlled Substance License (CSL) which comes from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR)
C. A federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) number
D. A letter from your attorney
If you answered A, B, and C, you are correct! Here's the law on the matter:
Prescriptive Authority Issues (65/65-40. Prescriptive authority.)
In Illinois, any licensed health professional who wishes to prescribe controlled substances must possess three things: (a) a professional license that authorizes him or her to do so, (b) an Illinois Controlled Substance License (CSL) which comes from IDFPR and, (c) a federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) number. Theoretically, APNs who do not ever intend to prescribe controlled substances are not legally required to obtain a CSL or DEA number. However, having a DEA number on a prescription – even for a non-controlled substance – greatly facilitates a patient's getting the prescription filled. While the practice is controversial, most reimbursers, including Medicaid, will not pay for a prescription without a DEA number, because they use that number for tracking purposes. Furthermore, pharmacists are more comfortable filling prescriptions with DEA numbers, because it provides some assurance that the APN prescriber does, indeed, have prescriptive authority. As a result, if a pharmacy does not have an APN's DEA number on file, most pharmacists will ask for it, even if the prescription is not for a controlled substance.
