You must conduct a DEA search as part of the recruiting process if you are hiring a physician, pharmacist, dentist, or nurse who will deliver and prescribe drugs.
DEA numbers are unique identifiers, and if a practitioner practices in many states, they may have multiple DEA numbers.
What is a DEA Number?
A DEA number is a unique identifier that allows medical professionals to write controlled drug prescriptions. Two letters, six numbers, and one check digit make up DEA numbers. DEA numbers are intelligent numbers, which means that some of the digits are meaningful.
The majority of pharmacies and healthcare facilities employ software and online tools to verify DEA searches. If you conduct a search and the result comes back with no match, the first step is to check with the practitioner to ensure there was no typo in the number.
If the search yields no results or indicates that the DEA number has expired, you have a problem that must be discussed with the practitioner before hiring.
Every three years, DEA numbers must be renewed. A practitioner’s DEA number may have expired if you determine that it’s not valid. The DEA renewal process can take up to 12 weeks by mail and six weeks online.
If your DEA search fails, the first thing you should take is to ask the practitioner for their license expiration date and, if it is past the renewal date, if they have recently applied for renewal.
DEA Number Lookup by NPI?
The DEA number of an applicant can be verified or looked up in a variety of ways. The first step is to get the number from the practitioner; if you are unable to obtain it from them or simply need to search it up fast, you can do so using one of the various online databases, such as www.dealookup.com.
If you have the license number and merely need to double-check it, you can call the DEA and inquire about it. You can look up a DEA number by using the practitioner’s name or their National Provider Identifier (NPI), a 10-digit number that is used to identify health care partners, including all payers. 95 percent of all prescriber DEA numbers are matched to their NPI numbers on websites like www.dealookup.com.