Governor Ralph Northam announced interconnectivity between the Commonwealth’s secure Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) database and North Carolina’sControlled Substance Reporting System, RxSentry.
As a result, pharmacists and prescribers in both states will be able to see the prescription history of patients who may utilize health providers or pharmacists in both jurisdictions, improving the quality of care and decreasing the risk of prescription drug diversion. The interoperability is provided through Prescription Monitoring Program Interconnect™ (PMPi), a service of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP).
“As a physician, I know all too well the difference timely access to the full healthcare records of vulnerable patients makes, especially when people live in one state and are treated in another,”said Governor Northam. “As we continue to battle the opioid addiction crisis in Virginia and across the country, the Prescription Monitoring Program is an important tool for health care providers to monitor prescriptions. With the addition of North Carolina, Virginia’s PMP is now connected with all of its border states and Washington DC, as well as 21 other state PMPs, to provide healthcare practitioners with essential prescription information using just one request.”
“Though each state has its own version of Virginia’s Prescription Monitoring Program, given the opioid crisis it is critically important for practitioners and pharmacists to be able to access the prescription history of patients under their care from other states 24/7, especially those that share our borders, in order to make informed treatment decisions in a timely fashion,” added Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources Dr. David Carey.
Other states interoperable with Virginia include: Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington D.C., and West Virginia. These states are all part of a national network of 43 PMPs supported by NABP’s PMPi.
In Virginia, health regulatory boards that license practitioners authorized to prescribe opioids to their patients and law enforcement officers also use the PMP to support investigations related to doctor shopping, diversion, and inappropriate prescribing and dispensing.
About Virginia’s Prescription Monitoring Program
Virginia’s PMP collects prescription data on Schedule II-IV drugs to promote the appropriate use of controlled substances for legitimate medical purposes while deterring their misuse, abuse, and diversion. Registered users may query the PMP database to review a patient’s prescription history for possible dangerous drug combinations and detect possible drug misuse or diversion. Virginia’s PMP is a program of the Virginia Department of Health Professions (DHP) which licenses 380,000 healthcare practitioners across more than 62 professions. DHP receives complaints about Virginia healthcare practitioners who may have violated a regulation or law. The DHP Enforcement Division’s complaint form is available online. DHP’s mission is to ensure safe and competent patient care by licensing health professionals, enforcing standards of practice, and providing information.
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