Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Clearinghouse / Center of Excellence

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 grant recipient, in partnership with the Alliance of State Prescription Monitoring Programs (ASPMP), will provide training and technical Assistance (TTA) to the states funded by the Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. This collaborative effort will build upon the Prescription Monitoring Information Exchange (PMIX) infrastructure enabling states to develop uniform capabilities to ensure the integrity of patient prescription information.

Brandeis University will utilize funding to accomplish three goals. The first goal is to continue to develop a clearinghouse of information, analyses, and evaluation tools for PDMP stakeholders. The grantee will accomplish goal one by implementing the following activities: continue to seek and present new material about prescription drug abuse and PDMPs; continue to collaborate with subject matter experts to produce relevant summaries and analyses of this material; and develop a Researchers' Forum on the clearinghouse website. The second goal is to advance the field by focusing on the assessment of PDMPs, including identifying promising practices. The grantee will accomplish goal two by implementing the following activities: complete five PDMP studies and disseminate findings; develop future Notes from the Field on the use of PDMP data by drug courts; continue collaborative work with researchers; continue working with PDMP administrators and stakeholders to identify best practice methods; and continue working with BJA grantees on required performance measures. The third goal is to work with national and federal partners to increase the utilization and to improve the benefits of PDMPs. The grantee will accomplish goal three by implementing the following activities: host a second in-person meeting and at least one telephone conference of the Expert Panel; host a third-party payers meeting; continue to assist Indian Health Services to report data to state PDMPs; evaluate at least one cluster of states that are using PMIX to share PDMP data.

CA/NCF