Did you know that the Medicare Modernization Act requires that pharmacies maintain Medicare Part D prescription records for 10 years? Community pharmacists have been asking, "how will we bear the costs associated with storing and archiving 10 years worth of paper records?" The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has deliberated this requirement and has recently announced that pharmacies will not need to physically maintain records for the entire 10 year period. CMS expects that Part D plans will “require their pharmacies to maintain prescription records in their original format for the greater of 3 years or the period required by State law, and permit the records to be transferred to an electronic format that replicates the original prescription (such as a digitized image) for the remaining years of the 10-year Part D retention period."
Regardless of the storage method, Part D plans will expect community pharmacies to have access to prescription records in some format for 10 years. If you do not comply with this requirement, Part D plans will have authority to audit your pharmacy and enforce the regulation. You will need to prepare your pharmacy to store these files prior to January 1, 2006.