State Takes Next Step in Monitoring Prescription Drug Abuse
http://nhpr.org/post/state-takes-next-step-monitoring-prescription-drug-abuse
From the article:
The five-year contract awarded to Health Information Designs is the next step in the state’s effort to set up a prescription drug monitoring program, or PMP. Such programs are aimed at “doctor shopping,” in which patients visit multiple physicians for prescriptions that are then filled at different pharmacies.
The $334,000 contract will allow for the creation of a secure database that physicians and other providers can access to track prescriptions of widely abused drugs such as painkillers and stimulants.
New Hampshire became the 49th state to adopt a PMP in 2012, although legislators prohibited the use of state general funds for its operation. Last fall, the state Board of Pharmacy, which will oversee the program, received a $400,000 grant from the federal Department of Justice Assistance to implement the program.
All pharmacists in the state are required to submit data to the program within a week of filling a prescription. Medical providers – including dentists, physician assistants and veterinarians – will be required to register with the program.
However, prescribers will not be required to check the PMP before writing a prescription for a patient.
State health officials have described the abuse of prescription drugs in New Hampshire as an epidemic. Between 2000 and 2011, the number of drug-related deaths annually quadrupled to 200 – 80 percent of which involved prescription drugs, usually opioids such as oxycodone and methadone.
$334K for 5 yr contract = 66,800/yr… using the 200/yr OD’s that comes down to $66.80 to save a life..
Of course,the New Hampshire Legislature is not willing to commit the state’s own tax revenue to do this !
Pharmacists are required to submit data.. All healthcare professional are required to register.. BUT.. not required to use the PMP before prescribing or dispensing.
AND.. of course, healthcare professionals do not have the ability to validate the ID of the person requesting a opiate be prescribed or dispensed… which compromises the entire process… but.. politicians and bureaucrats in NH are now able to claim that they are doing something… the citizen of NH probably don’t realize that “something” is really DAMN LITTLE !
Filed under: General Problems
All the programs are useless when the pharmacist refuses to check preferring to say we don’t have this when you know that they are lying. Has happened to me 6 different times. Places that I have used. I have a copy of my Tennessee drug monitor sheets beside me. So stupid- am deemed so many points because at the dr office I saw different nurse practitioners. Same office and I had no control over who walked in although I wish I had. Was also deemed points for different pharmacy because of the I do not have it and won’t order it. I have no problems with id, calls to doctor but I do have a physical problem when prescriptions are not filled. Can’t follow the doctor ordered rule and risk the side effects of not having the medication. Who is responsible for that? Obviously narcotics were not first or second choice but was the last option available for quality of life. Everyone knows that stress makes pain worse and pain is better controlled with regular medication rather than on a haphazardly method.
Which if the “Secure ID’ program had gone nationwide, it might have helped with verification of ID. When IN was part of the pilot program,,to get your DL renewed, you had to provide birth certificate or passport, SS card, if female..marriage license or court document for name change from birth certificate, 2 documents with your current address (utility bill, bank statement) from past 60 days. All of these were copied then sent to the Indy, I suppose the DMV? or whoever where they were verified the info and then you got your license in the mail 10 days later (you got a temp license in the meantime). But it was supposed to make it easier to be able to prove who you were, especially if you were going to purchase airline tickets. When I got remarried, all I had to show was my new marriage certificate and secured license. Yes it was a real pain at first, but has been a piece of cake to do business with state since. The real kicker was I had to send off for my birth certificate from NY city. My original was so old and had been copied from a microfiche and stamped with a seal. It wasnt acceptable. All states seem to use a national database. Well I went online, all they asked for was my birth name, date, parents names, hospital, borough I was born in and paid 30.00. Got it in 5 days. I was not asked to provide any ID to prove it was me. Now my current husband was born in PA, for his we had to send off a copy of his SS card and his drivers license for the state of PA. But he has one also. Apparently the program was killed off I guess due to budget cuts.
And yet the progressives have a problem with asking someone for ID when they vote??? I have yet to have yet to hear them complain about my asking for a valid, in date, GOVERNMENT ISSUED ID to have a controlled substance filled.
And that brings us back to the obvious answer to the problem, kids. Pharmacists doing their jobs by refusing suspicius scripts. Pharmacists doing their jobs by refusing early refills. Pharmacists doing their jobs by using their brains, their skills and their instincts to fill the good ones and send the bad ones away empty handed.
PMP systems are always going to be too late and after the fact. The responsibility we have taken and the trust we have been given of being The Keepers of the Drugs requires us to be proactive not reactive. With due diligence we will always do a better job than the PMP.
Unless I’ve missed something, IN doesn’t require prescribers to check INSPECT before prescribing either.
You are correct abt Indiana.. KY started requiring 1-2 yrs ago.. of course, if you are checking the name the person gave you and/or provided you a fake ID on.. how do you know you are getting the correct information or if the Pharmacist was given a fake ID and that is what they put into the PMP.. Our real problem – diverters – are probably like “ghosts” in the PMP. But it is part of the $51 billion bill to keep the war on drugs going.. while not really accomplishing much of substance. just the way law enforcement likes it – job security…
Ridiculous! Why waste our time entering anything in the database if dr’s aren’t required to check it before prescribing.? Time to start billing the New Hampshire legislature for time wasted.