Healthcare today is full of buzz words and acronyms like value based care, MIPS, MACRA, and interoperability. As a pharmacist, I find there are two buzz words that hit very close to home for every patient, and also represent two very different sides of an important healthcare industry coin—adherence and addiction. These two actions couldn’t be more opposite yet equally as important to monitor. For some patients, there is a very fine line between remaining adherent to their medication regiments, and staying out of the darkness of addiction. Healthcare professionals across the board need to do all they can to keep their patients in balance. We must stress adherence all the while watching for signs of addiction. How you do that is up to you. Today’s technology can be a very valuable resource to keep your patients’ behavior in check. Some software systems have features that deliver providers insights into their patients’ medication history and use patterns. It’s just a matter of taking advantage of the tools that are at your fingertips. There are a multitude of regulations that impact what and how providers can prescribe for their patients: REMS programs, EPCS and PDMP mandates, MME prescribing restrictions, to name a few. Beginning January 1, 2021, the SUPPORT Act that was signed into law in 2018 will bring about an e-prescribing mandate for all controlled substance prescriptions for Medicare Part D patients. And if that wasn’t enough, Walmart has a new policy that will require ALL controlled substance prescriptions to be e-prescribed to their pharmacies starting January 1, 2020. Their deadline will be here before you know it, so the time to prepare is now.