Seizing the Momentum: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Reduce Rx Drug Abuse in Florida

In FY 2013, the Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) expanded to provide funding to localities to assemble a local collaborative effort of public health and criminal justice professionals to pilot innovative ways to use PDMP and other data to inform prevention, treatment, and enforcement efforts.

The PDMP assists states with the implementation or enhancement of tribes' and localities' use of the 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; plan, implement, and increase the exchange of information under the PDMP Information Exchange (PMIX) Architecture 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; enhance collaborations with law enforcement, prosecutors, treatment professionals, the medical community, pharmacies, and regulatory boards to establish a comprehensive PDMP strategy; enable federally recognized tribal governments to establish the policy, legal, and technological infrastructure to share PDMP data from health care facilities with the appropriate state PDMP; and pilot a local collaborative effort between public health and criminal justice professionals to collect and analyze various sources of data to determine best practices for sharing data, regulatory schemes, deconfliction strategies, intelligence gathering, prioritization of treatment, and prevention efforts for at-risk individuals and communities. Data should be used to identify areas at greatest risk for prescription drug abuse and overdose deaths and create data-driven responses at the local level to include education, outreach, treatment, and enforcement.

The grant recipient will use the grant funds to form multi-disciplinary action groups: county, state, and federal criminal justice professionals in addition to state and local health authorities and treatment providers. Action group members should include: district attorney's office, state health department, state medical and pharmacy boards, police and sheriff departments, probation and parole, local drug treatment providers, and community organizations. The action groups will collect data from medical examiners, emergency rooms, crime data, and other relevant sources that will support the corroborate PDMP data and provide additional information to assist with pinpointing specific locations within the county that are at-risk for prescription drug abuse and drug overdose deaths. The activities should focus on data sharing arrangements, data collection, and analysis. The recipient should describe the type of strategies and areas developed (e.g., prevention, treatment, regulatory activity, enforcement) and the action group plans to have impact to address prescription drug abuse rates in a defined jurisdiction(s). The recipient will determine best practices for sharing data, regulatory schemes, deconfliction strategies, intelligence gathering, targeted regulatory and enforcement activity, and prioritization of treatment and prevention efforts for at-risk individuals and communities. Data will be used to identify areas at greatest risk for prescription drug diversion, abuse, and overdose deaths and create data-driven responses at the local level to include education, outreach, treatment, and enforcement.
CA/NCF