Florida PDMP Update

Attached you find the link https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eforcse.com%2Fdocs%2FPDMP_Annual_Report_2011_FINAL.pdf to the 2010-2011 Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Annual Report.The information collected in the database is available to registered health care practitioners to help guide their decisions in prescribing and dispensing certain highly abused prescription drugs. It may also assist health care practitioners in identifying patients who are “doctor shopping” or trying to obtain multiple prescriptions for the same controlled substance from multiple health care practitioners, which is a felony in the State of Florida. The PDMP became operational on September 1, 2011, when it began receiving controlled substance dispensing data from pharmacies and dispensing practitioners. Health care practitioners began accessing the data reported to the PDMP on October 17, 2011, and Law Enforcement Agencies began requesting PDMP reports during the course of active investigations on November 14, 2011 Here are some highlights: As of November 15, 2011.Number of Pharmacies/Dispensers who have reported to the PDMP 5,502. Number of prescription records reported to the PDMP 21,248,872 For this reporting period, 873,814 INDIVIDUALS filled prescriptions for Schedule II drugs and 2,567,209 for Schedule II and III drugs. The report also identified that 2,710 of the individuals died with at least one prescription drug in their system that was identified as the cause of death. Among the licensed professionals, pharmacists have the highest registration rate, with over 9.7% registering. Roughly 3.7% of all medical doctors and osteopathic physicians and 2% dentists have registered as of November 15, 2011. BUT 56,218 licensed PRESCRIBERS in Florida issued one or more controlled substance prescriptions and most probably do NOT check the PDMP. Number of PDMP Queries by Registered Users: October 2011 34,486 November 2011 71,928 TOTAL 106,414 Number of Data Request by Law Enforcement 36 !! This demonstrates that we have a wealth of data available on which we can base our prescription decisions BUT only 3.7% of all medical doctors in Florida choose to use the system!! Furthermore, the available data indicates that law enforcement is far less "trigger happy" to access the data than previously claimed. What problem(s) remain? More physicians should be encouraged to use the PDMP. Otherwise, we have to consider mandating its use prior to the issuance of a controlled substance prescription. I personally use the program each time I issue a Schedule II,III or IV prescription and have discovered quite a few surprises!! In 2009, 223,700 controlled substance prescriptions were dispensed by out-of state pharmacists in Alabama, Louisiana, North Carolina, Arizona, and Vermont for prescriptions written by Florida prescribers. Currently health care practitioners licensed outside the state of Florida are not allowed access to Florida’s PDMP prior to dispensing. Therefore, we need to allow for exchange of Florida PDMP data with other state PDMP programs which will enable health care practitioners and law enforcement officers to determine if their patient/subject has received controlled substance prescription drugs in the State of Florida. Yours Bernd