Tennessee Controlled Substance Database Program

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.

The Tennessee Board of Pharmacy will use the FY 2007 award to enhance their Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP). The principal goal of the Controlled Substance Database (CSD) is to reduce and/or effectively eliminate the diversion of prescription controlled substances while promoting and improving the appropriate use of controlled substances. PDMP monies will fund: awareness campaigns aimed at informing pharmacists of changes and upgrades to the Controlled Substance Program; travel expenses for staff to attend conferences and the Director of the Board of Pharmacy and one staff member to participate in regional pharmacy updates throughout the state to educate the medical community of changes in State and Federal laws, new drug classification and warnings, education tools to ensure patient care and the Controlled Substance Monitoring Program; equipment purchases; contractural services to obtain a temporary secretary; and, maintenance of the server which covers licensing, upgrades and hosting costs for the database.

NCA/NCF