The digital prescription is worth as much as the one on paper when it follows the rules of the law, of the CFM and of Anvisa. This guide brings those rules together in order, with the norm behind each one, and shows what Clinivum already does and what it does not do yet.
How to write a digital prescription: what makes it valid
An electronic prescription is only valid with an advanced or a qualified signature and if it follows the rules of Anvisa or of the Ministry of Health (Law 5.991/1973, art. 35, paragraph 2, as worded by Law 14.063/2020). For the doctor, the CFM requires the qualified one.
Paper signed by hand and then scanned is not an electronic prescription. RDC 1.000/2025 of Anvisa says so in plain words for the prescriptions it regulates (art. 2, sole paragraph).
CFM Resolutions 2.299/2021 and 2.381/2024 ask for a qualified signature, made with an ICP Brasil certificate. Resolution 2.299/2021 also asks that the document can be checked in the validator of the ITI or of the CFM (art. 4). Putting the two together, every medical document has to carry, at a minimum:
The name and the CRM licence with the state of the doctor, and the RQE specialist number when there is one
The name of the patient and the CPF, checked against an official document with a photo
The date and time it was issued
A professional phone number or email
The professional or home address of the doctor
The qualified signature of the doctor, when the document is electronic
02
Which ICP Brasil certificate to use: A1, A3 or cloud
A qualified signature is the one that uses an ICP Brasil certificate (Law 14.063/2020, art. 4). The ITI, the national certification authority, cites the two most used types: the A1, which sits on the computer or on the phone and lasts 1 year, and the A3, which sits on a card, a token or in the cloud and lasts from 1 to 5 years.
The health rules cited in this guide ask for an ICP Brasil certificate and do not choose between A1, A3 or cloud. CFM Resolution 2.299/2021 also requires the NGS2 security level.
CFM Resolution 2.296/2021 orders the CFM and the regional councils to issue free of charge, to the doctor in good standing who asks for it, an A3 ICP Brasil certificate in the cloud or on another device, with yearly activation and validity of up to 5 years. The request is made in the CRM Virtual, the online service portal of the regional council, and asks for the medical identity card in polycarbonate.
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Step by step, from the certificate to sending it
The doctor can issue it in the free electronic prescription service of the CFM, built with the CFF, the pharmacy council, and the ITI, or in a private system. The private system has to be registered with the CRM of the region where it is based, have a medical technical director and confirm that whoever prescribes is a doctor in good standing.
These rules come from CFM Resolution 2.299/2021 (arts. 5 and 8). It also forbids the service from steering the prescription to one pharmacy and forbids the doctor from using a service outside those rules (arts. 11 and 12).
With an active CRM licence and an ICP Brasil certificate within its validity, the prescription follows this order:
Choose where to issue it: the service of the CFM or a system registered with the CRM, after confirming that registration
Identify the patient with name and CPF, checked against an official document with a photo
Write the prescription and read it again before signing
Sign with the ICP Brasil certificate
Send the file to the patient, without printing it
04
Digital special control prescription and the SNCR of Anvisa
Prescriptions of medicines under special control and electronic sick notes are only valid with a qualified signature (Law 14.063/2020, art. 13). Since 13 February 2026, RDC 1.000/2025 regulates the electronic issuing of controlled medicines and of the prescriptions the pharmacy retains, such as antimicrobials and the GLP 1 class.
RDC 1.000/2025 orders those documents to come from a prescription service integrated with the SNCR, the national system of Anvisa, with a number of its own for each prescription, and orders that only the prescriber may issue them (arts. 4, 6 and 7). That integration is not available yet.
RDC 1.028/2026 postponed to 30 September 2026 the launch of the SNCR functions that give the electronic prescription its number and record its use. Up to 16 September 2026, we did not find an official notice from Anvisa saying that the electronic Notificação de Receita, the special notification form, is already working. Here is what holds today:
Notificação de Receita forms (yellow, blue, for retinoids and for thalidomide): they stay on paper until the SNCR releases the electronic version
Electronic special control prescription and prescription the pharmacy retains: until the integration with the SNCR goes live, they keep being issued as before, without a number given in advance, according to Anvisa. After that, only the ones issued by an integrated system are valid
Without the number of the SNCR, those prescriptions will be accepted for up to 30 days after the record of use goes live (art. 18)
Paper keeps its value, and the pads already printed in the old model stay valid with no set deadline
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Digital prescription: how long each type lasts
In the electronic prescriptions regulated by RDC 1.000/2025, the controlled ones and the ones the pharmacy retains, the date of the signature counts as the date of issue, and each prescription can only be used once (arts. 12 and 15).
The prescription is valid across the whole national territory, including the special control one, under the terms of the regulation (Law 5.991/1973, art. 35). The deadline changes with the type of medicine:
Special control prescription (lists C1 and C5): 30 days from the issue (Ordinance SVS/MS 344/1998, art. 52)
Notificação de Receita A and B: 30 days (Ordinance 344/1998, arts. 41 and 45)
Special Notificação de Receita for retinoids: 30 days (Ordinance 344/1998, art. 50)
Antimicrobials: 10 days (Anvisa Normative Instruction 360/2025)
Semaglutide, liraglutide, dulaglutide, tirzepatide and lixisenatide: 90 days (Anvisa Normative Instruction 360/2025)
Simple prescription, with no control and no retention: we did not find a federal deadline set in a rule
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How to validate a digital prescription: patient and pharmacy
The official and free validator is VALIDAR, from the ITI, at validar.iti.gov.br. It accepts ICP Brasil and gov.br signatures, takes the file, the link or the QR Code, and does not keep what was sent.
Printed paper cannot be validated, unless it carries a compatible QR Code and the access code that usually comes next to it. That is why the ITI advises not to print, and not to accept, a printed electronic document.
In prescriptions in general, when the ITI does not validate the signature of a private service, Anvisa says to use the validator that service itself indicates. In the prescriptions regulated by RDC 1.000/2025, the rule says to check the signature in a validation service of the ITI. When the record in the SNCR goes live, the pharmacy will make three checks on those prescriptions (art. 13):
It checks the signature in a validation service of the ITI
It checks whether the number was given to that prescriber in the SNCR
It records the use of the prescription in the SNCR
07
Electronic sick note: what the rule asks for
CFM Resolution 2.299/2021 allows a sick note to be issued by digital means, in person or at a distance. The law requires a qualified signature, with an ICP Brasil certificate, for the electronic sick note to be valid (Law 14.063/2020, art. 13).
The official text of CFM Resolution 2.382/2024, which created Atesta CFM as the official system for sick notes, is recorded as suspended by a court decision. In July 2025, the CFM reported that the TCU, the federal audit court, recognized the legality of the system, which remained suspended by an injunction.
We did not find an official update about Atesta CFM in 2026. In the meantime, the electronic sick note follows the general rule: issued by the doctor and signed with an ICP Brasil certificate.
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What Clinivum does today on the prescription
In Clinivum, the doctor issues, from the chart of the patient, the common prescription and the special control prescription, this one in two copies. Sick note, lab order and report come out of the same system. The common prescription, the sick note and the lab order carry the branding of the clinic. The details are on the page of the digital prescription feature.
At the end of the appointment, with the patient still in the room, the doctor signs the common prescription with the A1 certificate and, on the same screen, sends the PDF through the WhatsApp of the clinic, without printing. Sending it depends on an active WhatsApp connection and on the phone of the patient in the record. The system refuses an expired certificate. The QR Code of the PDF leads to the validation page of Clinivum itself, not to VALIDAR of the ITI.
The electronic special control prescription of Clinivum still comes out without the number of the SNCR. While the integration is not available, Anvisa says that electronic issuing continues as before. When the record of use goes live, Anvisa accepts prescriptions without that number for up to 30 days (RDC 1.000/2025, art. 18). After that deadline, use the prescription on paper, in the Anvisa model, or a service integrated with the SNCR. The same rule holds for the electronic prescription of an antimicrobial or of the GLP 1 class.
Before using any prescription system, check whether it complies with CFM Resolution 2.299/2021. What Clinivum does not do yet:
It does not accept an A3 certificate or a certificate in the cloud, and it does not sign with gov.br
It does not issue a Notificação de Receita, whether yellow, blue, for retinoids or for thalidomide
It does not have a model of its own for an antimicrobial prescription or for a prescription the pharmacy retains, such as the one of the GLP 1 class
It is not integrated with the SNCR
It does not query the register of the CFM to confirm the CRM licence of whoever signs
It does not include in the PDF the health document marking that VALIDAR uses, so VALIDAR may not recognize the file as a prescription
Questions
Frequently asked questions about how to write a digital prescription
How do I write a digital prescription through the CFM?
Go to the electronic prescription service of the CFM, at prescricaoeletronica.cfm.org.br, with an active CRM licence and an ICP Brasil certificate. It is free and issues a simple prescription, an antimicrobial one and a special control one, as well as a sick note and a lab order.
Do I need a digital certificate to write a digital prescription?
You do. The CFM asks for a qualified signature, made with an ICP Brasil certificate, on every electronic medical document. The doctor in good standing with the council can ask for a free A3 certificate, with yearly activation and validity of up to 5 years (CFM Resolution 2.296/2021).
Is a digital prescription valid all over Brazil?
It is. Law 5.991/1973, art. 35, gives the prescription validity across the whole national territory, including the special control one, under the terms of the regulation. To be valid, the electronic prescription needs the signature required for its type.
How do I count the deadline of a digital prescription?
Ordinance 344/1998 counts the 30 days of the special control prescription from the issue. In the electronic prescriptions regulated by RDC 1.000/2025, the date of the signature is the date of issue (art. 12).
Can I sign the prescription with the gov.br account?
Anvisa accepts the gov.br signature for a common prescription and for the prescriptions the pharmacy retains, but not for the medicines of Ordinance 344. The CFM, in turn, requires an ICP Brasil certificate on electronic medical documents. So the safe path for the doctor is to sign with that certificate.
Can the blue and the yellow prescription already be digital?
RDC 1.000/2025 provides for the electronic version, but it depends on the SNCR, with a deadline up to 30 September 2026. Up to 16 September 2026, we did not find an official notice from Anvisa saying that it already works. In the meantime, the Notificação de Receita stays on paper.
How do I validate a digital prescription without a QR Code?
Send the PDF file of the prescription to VALIDAR, at validar.iti.gov.br. A printed prescription without a compatible QR Code cannot be validated. If the service uses a signature that the ITI does not recognize, use the validator that the service itself indicates.
Does the patient need to print the digital prescription?
No. The ITI advises not to print an electronic document, because printed paper cannot be validated, unless it carries a compatible QR Code. In controlled medicines, while the SNCR does not record the use, Anvisa advises the pharmacy to print the PDF and write on the paper.
Can I use the free certificate of the CRM in Clinivum?
Today, no. The free certificate of the councils is of the A3 type, in the cloud or on another device, and Clinivum signs only with an A1 certificate. To sign in Clinivum, the doctor needs an A1 issued in his name.
