Better PDMP Data in Moments
State-mandated Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) are a vital resource to help protect patients, inform providers, and improve care. Learn about new technology that can help you access them quickly to get the medication data you need in seconds.
What is a PDMP (Prescription Drug Monitoring Program)?
A PDMP collects, monitors, and analyzes prescriptions and dispensing data that have been submitted by either pharmacies or dispensing practitioners. Each state has its own database of controlled substances.
Prescribers are typically required to review the PDMP prior to writing a new script. This occurs when a patient comes in and requires therapy that might require a controlled substance. It varies from state to state on which controlled substance medications are actually reported to the state.
As a point of clarity, a prescriber can be anyone from a physician to a dentist, to a nurse practitioner. In some states, there are requirements for a veterinarian to access the prescription drug monitoring program before they prescribe medications to a pet, for example.
PDMPs started for one reason and that was to protect patients against diversion. In light of the increase in opioid abuse, state drug monitoring programs have become a crucial resource to safeguard patients from misuse of medications.
Challenges with Manual PDMP Look-ups
It’s widely accepted that PDMPs are good for patients and is good for providers because a well-informed clinician will have the best opportunity to have a good conversation with their patient.
However, obtaining this information often presents some challenges to the providers.
The first challenge is related to workflow. These state registries are typically something that is outside the normal workflow of a clinician when they are seeing a patient. So, they have to exit the prescribing system, log into a state portal with their own separate credentials to access the state prescription monitoring program, search for the information they need, make a decision, go back into the prescribing system, and then go ahead and take their intervention to the patient. This is a frustrating, inefficient, and error-prone process that, while necessary, could benefit from improvement.
Another key challenge is the lack of a complete medication history. These state registries only keep track of controlled substances, so the provider doesn’t get a clear picture of understanding the total scope of the medications the patient might be taking. There are lots of specific clinical examples where non-controlled medications also play a very important role in the patient’s therapy when they are taking controlled substances. The fact that they’re not combined and the data lives in two different spots makes medication reconciliation even further challenging for providers.
A Better Way to Perform PDMP Checks
What providers really need to be successful is to have all of the information in one place, with a workflow that makes sense and is very easy to use.
As a leader in e-prescribing, DrFirst is helping providers comply with PDMP check by allowing them to be done in the prescribing workflow. When a provider is writing the controlled substance, they can actually get access to the state PDMP registry in the application and see that while they are writing the prescription.
DrFirst also provides a more comprehensive set of patient medication history data, pulling from a vast network of sources (including pharmacies, PBMs, payors, and more), and displaying in a way that is complete, clean, and consumable.
When you combine instant access to the PDMP with a global view of the patient’s medication history, you get a more complete view at the moment the provider is treating the patient.
The rationale is simple. Having the right data at the right time allows the provider to make the most appropriate care decision.
The key concept here is well-informed providers will have better conversations with their patients. When you have access to the PDMP you get vital information, such as the drug name, how much was provided, what is the base supply (how long should that prescription last that patient), and when was the date?
This is important in identifying so-called “doctor shoppers” seeking narcotics illegally. You can quickly identify when patients are obtaining multiple prescriptions from multiple doctors in a short period of timeframe.
The good news is all of that functionality (including in-workflow PDMP access, real-time medication history, and other valuable features) is available to providers at their fingertips via iPrescribe.
In addition to helping improve safety outcomes, this technology is key in empowering prescribers to become more productive. Providers need to be well-informed in order to make the best care decisions. In order to accomplish that, integration into the workflow at the point in time that they’re going to be making these decisions is key.