Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2007, $400,000)
Since the beginning of FY 2002, Congress has appropriated funding to the U.S. Department of Justice to support the Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. Prescription drug monitoring programs enhance the capacity of regulatory and law enforcement agencies to collect and analyze controlled substance prescription data through a centralized database administered by an authorized state agency. These programs are designed to help prevent and detect the diversion and abuse of pharmaceutical controlled substances, particularly at the retail level where no other automated information collection system exists.
States that have implemented prescription drug monitoring programs have the capability of collecting and analyzing prescription data much more efficiently than states without such programs, where the collection of prescription information requires the manual review of pharmacy files which is a very time consuming and invasive process. The increased efficiency of prescription drug monitoring programs allows for the early detection of abuse trends and possible sources of diversion.
Through the Comprehensive Oklahoma Narcotics Tracking and Records On-Line (CONTROL) Program, the State of Oklahoma has seen a trend in the prescribed doses of Hydrocodone and Oxycodone by practitioners. The strategic plan for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control (OBN) CONTROL program is to address the problem of pharmaceutical diversion on a number of different fronts. The grantee's plan contains a multi disciplinary approach that consists of the following functions: evaluation, early-intervention, regulatory, and criminal investigation.
Grant funds will be used to purchase the necessary software and a dedicated server to enhance the Optimum application. The Power Search application will enable the grantee to provide online access for the medical community and provides physicians with direct access to information regarding their patients through a secure and reliable system. The FY 2007 Proscription Monitoring Program will also sustain the project manager and three analyst positions that were funded through previous federal grants. Lastly, two Information Technology personnel will receive Netscreen security training to maintain security for the data accessed online.
CA/NCF