The Arkansas Prescription Monitoring Program

* Check how their patients are doing on certain parameters—such as blood pressure readings or vaccinations

to unnecessarily overprescribe medications to their pediatric patients. Of these prescription drugs, opioid pain killers, antibiotics, and psychiatric medications are the most commonly overprescribed in child care. For example, opioid prescriptions have increased 300 percent in the past seventeen years (Boerner 20), over 50 million unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions are written each year (Murray 266), and 6.4 million psychiatric prescriptions are given to children between the ages of four and seventeen each year (Johnson 19). The overprescribing of these medications leads to children experiencing unnecessary side effects, increases the chances of addictions, and encourages drug resistance. In this essay, I will be proposing that there should be a (i) government enforced set of extensive regulations and checklists that each patient must fulfill before receiving a prescription and (ii) governmental laws prohibiting careless prescribing by doctors and hold doctors more accountable for the prescriptions they write.

These efforts are focusing little attention on the source of the medications themselves, the access point -- the medical practitioner with a pen. In the current environment, a doctor, dentist, or nurse practitioner can write a prescription to anyone without accountability for the aftermath. In March the CDC convened to put forth guidelines for prescribing opioid medications in cases of chronic pain (Dowell, Haegerich, & Chou, 2016, pp. 1633-1641). The published guideline is a passive 12 point recommendation for prescribing practices without accountability, solutions, or intention to enforce better practice. To date, the national response to the crisis can be described as impotent at best, and the body count rises. “Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the U.S., with 52,404 lethal drug overdoses in 2015. Opioid addiction is driving this epidemic, with 20,101 overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers, and 12,990 overdose deaths related to heroin in 2015.” (ASAM,

Roughly 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain with an annual cost of $600 billion dollars in health care and a limited number of pain specialist physicians (Harle, et al., 2015). The conditions require the daily use of opioid medications which are being prescribed by primary care providers and providers in the ED. Along with multiple prescribers of opioid medications, the number of prescriptions for these medications has quadrupled from 1999-2013 in correlation with an increase in deaths related to opioid use (Greenwood-Ericksen, Poon, Nelson, Weiner, & Schuur, 2016). The significant increase of opioid related deaths and complications is commonly being referred to as the prescription opioid epidemic and to blame for the most unintentional deaths in the US (Smith, et al., 2015). Though responsible for administering and prescribing opioids to provide pain management, nurse practitioners in the ED have limited patient history and are placed under time constraints. Improved education regarding pain management, clinical practice guidelines and the use of resource tools like the Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMP) have been proven effective for reducing opioid related complications (Greenwood-Ericksen et al.,

Encourage the use of computer-generated or electronic medication administration records. Plan for the implementation of computerized prescriber order entry systems. Consider the use of machine-readable code (i.e., bar coding) in the medication administration process. Use computerized drug profiling in the pharmacy. Be a demanding customer of pharmacy system software; encourage vendors to incorporate and assist in implementing an adequate standardized set of checks into computerized hospital pharmacy systems (e.g., screening for duplicate drug therapies, patient allergies, potential drug interactions, drug/lab interactions, dose ranges, etc.)”. (Association,

The policy that this paper hopes to develop has to do with prescribed opioids and the prevalence of addiction and overdose. This policy will be developed using the incrementalism model because it is very large. The legislator this author will contact is Senator Christopher J. Conners of Ocean County, New Jersey. This legislator was chosen because the prevalence of opioid overdose occurs highest in Ocean County. By using the process of incrementalism, this large issue will be broken down into smaller more manageable pieces. These pieces will be easier to test for efficiency and change if needed (CCN, 2016). The first goal of this policy is to increase the education and availability of Naloxone (Narcan). The second goal involves utilizing prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) to help prescribers recognize and educate high risk patients as well as educate them on the

The program is an online database about patients’ controlled prescription drug history. This information helps doctors detect, and potentially prevent, abuse and facilitates identification of patients who are misusing or diverting controlled substances. The CDC states that “PDMPs continue to be among the most promising state-level interventions to improve opioid prescribing, inform clinical practice, and protect patients at risk.” PDMPs are necessary tools for state authorized officials to collect, monitor and analyze prescription and dispensing data submitted by pharmacies or medical practitioners. Since medical records are difficult to examine due to necessary laws protecting one’s health information, PDMPs provide critical information for doctors prescribing dangerous, habit forming drugs. While this program may not be drastic or swift enough to put an end to the opioid epidemic anytime soon, it is currently one of our best

To help combat the opioid crisis, there are some existing policies that have been set in place by the government and various agencies. For instance, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have implemented the use of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs). These state-run programs are electronic databases that track down the prescriptions of controlled substances, including opioids. Physicians and other medical personnel can utilize this database to look at specific information such as the type of drug prescribed, the quantity, and so on. In addition, they can look at a patient’s history with controlled substances, which in turn helps them to avoid the prescription of controlled substances to a person with possible

From the article Prescription Drug Abuse: A Comparison of Prescriber and Pharmacist Perspectives, “Approximately, 20% of the U.S. population aged 12 and older has abused a prescription drug at least once in their lifetimes.” This evidently shows that within prescription drug abusers, there are high schoolers who abuse the system. From the NSDUH, National Survey on Drug use and Health, 91% of teen prescription drug abuse obtain the drug from friends, family and mostly prescribers. Thus showing that prescribers and pharmacist, whether they know it or not, are involved with the distribution of the all the prescription drug abuse. By prescribing these drugs to their patients, they are responsible for watching over them and assuring that they use it for appropriate reasons,.Throughout the time the number of prescription drugs that have left pharmaceutical labs has increased over the last two decades, more than 136 million drugs for the common opioid pain killer. Due to the steady increase in the prescription drugs and the attempt to observe the problem, countries would support a system to monitor prescription

There are a variety of stakeholders that have influence over the abuse and exploitation of controlled prescription medication, some are supporters and some are opponents. All levels of government are aware of this epidemic and have a role to play in supporting the reduction of controlled substance abuse. According to the latest numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1999 to 2009 the number of deaths from narcotic pills almost quadrupled to 15,597, more than the combined number of deaths of heroin and cocaine abuse. “A renewed focus on drug prevention is a major component of the Obama Administration's effort to implement a public health approach to reducing drug abuse and its consequences. Research shows that preventing drug use before it begins is a cost-effective, common-sense approach to promoting safe and healthy communities.” (Community-based prevention, 2012) The government can play a critical role

The American society has taken many steps in the positive direction to ease the pressure on local law enforcement by limiting the amount of opiates doctors prescribe to patients through a system called the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP). PDMPs allow doctors universal access to patients drug prescription history to make informed decisions on their prescription habits. However, this system only works if the doctors use the system before writing a prescription. According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, “Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) continue to be among the most promising state-level interventions to improve opioid prescribing, inform clinical practice, and protect patients at risk.” When doctors

As a result of implementing e-Rx for inbound prescriptions, patients would not need to carry prescriptions to get them filled back at the VA. Pharmacist would not have to enter the inbound prescriptions manually into the VistA, which can potentially present danger of medication errors, as reviewed in the secondary research in Chapter 2 above. Based on the qualitative

In the United States of America, there is prescription drug abuse epidemic that continues to be a growing concern. Prescription drugs cause a large amount of overdoses and result in an abundant amount of deaths each year. A government study conducted shows this epidemic is scarily on the rise, “A recent government study found a 400% increase in prescription drug abuse between 1998 and 2008” (Schreiner 531). The excessive use of prescription drug abuse is leading to nonmedical use of the drugs, and creating addiction. Furthermore society is paying an extreme amount of money in this battle. With this drug abuse on the rise, legislators must create a law preventing doctors and pharmacists from over prescribing prescription medications as well a law to require they both participate in drug monitoring programs to prevent drug abuse. Now is the time that doctors and the pharmaceutical industry must be held accountable for their role in causing one of America’s worst addictions. The over medication of prescription drugs in the United States must be brought to an end by legislators creating laws to stop

Electronic-prescribing, often referred to as e-prescribing, is a fairly new, innovative way for physicians and other medical personnel to prescribe medications and keep track of patients’ medical history. Not only has e-prescribing enabled prescribers to electronically send a prescription to the patients’ pharmacy of choice, in the short amount of time it has been available, it has significantly reduced health care costs, not only for the patient, but for the medical facilities as well. In 2003, e-prescribing was included in the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) which jumpstarted the role of e-prescribing in healthcare. It has proven to significantly reduce the yearly number medication errors and prescription fraud, and its widespread

The negative outcomes of medication misuse influence people who ill-use medicates as well as their families and companions, different organizations, and government assets (Akindipe, Abiodun, Adebajo, Lawal, & Rataemane, 2014). Albeit huge numbers of these impacts can 't be evaluated, “Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) as of late in 2002 reported that, the monetary expense of drug abuse within the United States was $180.9 billion” (Akindipe et al., 2014, Pg 250 Para 10). The