Prescription monitoring program that will help prevent and detect the diversion and abuse of pharmaceutical controlled substances in the State of Kansas.

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 (PDMP). Prescription drug monitoring programs enhance the capacity of regulatory and law enforcement agencies and public health officials 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.

The Prescription Drug Monitoring Program assists states as they plan, implement, or enhance a PDMP. PDMPs: build a state-level data collection and analysis system to enhance the capacity of regulatory and law enforcement agencies and public health officials for future prevention efforts; enhance existing programs' abilities to analyze and use collected data to identify drug abuse trends and increase the number of users of the PDMP; facilitate national evaluation efforts to ensure continued support; encourage the exchange of information among states to prevent cross-border diversion; assess the efficiency and effectiveness of programs to ensure continued state-level support; and, enhance collaborations with law enforcement, prosecutors, treatment professionals, the medical community, and pharmacies to establish a comprehensive PDMP strategy.

The Kansas Board of Pharmacy will use the grant funds to support the Kansas Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PMP). The PMP will utilize an electronic monitoring system to facilitate the transmission and collection of data on all Schedule II through Schedule IV controlled substances and drugs of concern dispensed to patients in Kansas. The system will also include software that will allow for analysis and reporting on prescribing and dispensing of controlled substances that can be utilized by health care providers to improve patient care and by law enforcement to reduce abuse and diversion. Currently, law enforcement investigates abuses of controlled substances only when those abuses are reported by health care providers. There is no proactive enforcement action to assist in curbing prescription abuse in Kansas. One reason for this is that data needed for investigation is fragmented between the prescriber and the dispenser. To create a database to locate potential doctor shopping, a law enforcement officer would need to go to individual physician's offices and pharmacies to identify patients potentially inappropriately seeking controlled substances. The PMP will provide a single database to allow investigation into potential doctor shopping or pharmacy shopping. Kansas' PMP will also serve to potentially stop prescription drug diversion before a prescription is written by allowing prescribers the opportunity to view their own patient's controlled substance utilization, including those prescriptions written by other health care professionals. The PMP database will also provide dispensers the ability to identify if any of their patients are inappropriately seeking controlled substances. In addition, PMP activities will include statewide training programs to ensure that all pharmacists who will be required to submit prescription information to PMP are prepared for that transmission, and that all prescribers and dispensers will be trained on accessing the PMP database.

CA/NCF