Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2010, $400,000)
Beginning in FY 2002, Congress appropriated funding to the U.S. Department of Justice to support the Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP). Prescription monitoring programs 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 monitoring programs have the capability to collect and analyze prescription data much more efficiently than states without such programs, where the collection of prescription information requires the manual review of pharmacy files, a time-consuming and invasive process.
The Prescription Drug Monitoring Program assists states as they plan, implement, or enhance a PDMP to: 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, identify and address sources of diversion, and increase the number of users of the PDMP; facilitate and participate in national evaluation efforts to assess efficiency and effectiveness; encourage and implement the exchange of information among states to prevent cross-border diversion; assess the efficiency and effectiveness of state-level programs to make improvements and encourage additional states to implement programs; and, enhance collaborations with law enforcement, prosecutors, treatment professionals, the medical community, and pharmacies to establish a comprehensive PDMP strategy.
The Florida Department of Health will use the enhancement grant funds to upgrade the existing PDMP database to enable Florida to transmit to and receive from other states data concerning controlled substance dispensing by using a standard methodology. Grant funds will be used to purchase the Prescription Monitoring Information Exchange (PMIX) module to establish the technological capability to launch this effort. The key deliverables of this project include: procurement of the PMIX module from a vendor through competitive bid; appointment of an IT project manager to ensure installation and operations integrity of the PMIX addition within state standards; appointment of program staff to support and maximize the enhancement and to educate stakeholders in the applications and benefits of the enhanced program; and development of performance measures to assess the outcomes and impacts of the enhancement in addressing the prescription drug abuse crisis in Florida and other states. The goals of this project are to acquire the PMIX module and establish data sharing agreements with at least three other states, expand data analysis, and increase educational efforts.
CA/NCF