Guam Prescription Drug Monitoring 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 Guam Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) intends to use the 2008 funds to accomplish three project goals for their implementation grant:

1) Develop Program Infrastructure - Guam PDMP will recruit a Program Coordinator IV who will be responsible for the overall project management and the completion of the three major project goals, and a Program Coordinator I who will be responsible for data entry, editing, and responding to PDMP report requests.

2) Develop Program Data Collection Process - Guam PDMP will develop the data collection process and the start of developing partnerships with the data providers. This will encompass the preparation and development of the database, the development of the program policies and procedures and the implementation of computerized data collection.

3) Strengthen Regulatory Foundation and Partnerships - the Division of Environmental Health and the Department of Public Health and Social Services has been designated as the entity to administer the Guam Uniform Controlled Substance Act, including developing and adopting rules and regulations guiding the Division in this administration. The Guam PDMP will work to make changes to the rules and regulations, which will be drafted during the first year to include a computerized data collection program.

CA/NCF