Implementation of a Prescription Monitoring Program for Washington State

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 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 Washington State Department of Health will use the implementation grant to provide prescribers and dispensers with an additional tool to promote patient care and safety through the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP). The program will encourage prescribers and pharmacists to use the information available through the PDMP to assist in patient care and prescribing decisions. Providing prescribers and pharmacists with patient's controlled substance prescription information should help curb drug misuse, abuse, and diversion and reduce deaths related to prescription abuse. A PDMP may allow earlier intervention with patients with substance abuse issues. The goals of this program are to: improve prescribers ability to prescribe appropriate medications; reduce the number of individuals attempting to engage in the misuse and abuse of controlled substances; reduce the diversion of controlled substances; and reduce deaths caused by controlled substances.

CA/NCF