Pharmacist Access to and Utilization of Prescription Monitoring Programs (Resolution 111-2-15)

Resolution No: 111-2-15
Title: Pharmacist Access to and Utilization of Prescription Monitoring Programs
Membership Vote: PASS

WHEREAS, prescription drug abuse has grown to epidemic proportions in the United States; and

WHEREAS, the prescription drug abuse epidemic has led to an increase in unintentional drug overdose death rates in recent years; and

WHEREAS, the pharmacist plays a major role in preventing prescription drug abuse; and

WHEREAS, the chances of identifying prescription drug abuse can be greatly increased when the pharmacist accesses available prescription monitoring program (PMP) data and utilizes it to identify potential drug seeking behavior by a patient; and

WHEREAS, experts have identified situations where a pharmacist should access and use PMP data; such situations include but are not limited to the following:

• The patient is receiving controlled substance prescriptions from multiple prescribers and/or pharmacies;
• The patient is receiving controlled substance prescriptions for more than 12 consecutive weeks;
• The patient is abusing or misusing controlled substances (for example, the pharmacist identifies overutilization of the medication or that the patient is seeking early refills, or observes that the patient appears overly sedated or intoxicated upon presenting a controlled substance prescription);
• The patient is presenting a controlled substance prescription issued by a prescriber with whom the pharmacist is unfamiliar (for example, the prescriber is located out of state or outside of the usual geographic area served by the pharmacy); or
• The patient is presenting a controlled substance prescription and resides outside the usual geographic area served by the pharmacy; and

WHEREAS, a best practices guide that identifies situations where a pharmacist should access and use PMP data could be a valuable tool to assist in identifying prescription drug abuse;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that NABP develop a best practices guide addressing when pharmacists should access and use PMP data; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that NABP encourage state boards of pharmacy to distribute such a best practices guide to its licensees as a tool to educate pharmacists on the use of PMP data in preventing prescription drug abuse; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that NABP collaborate with the appropriate stakeholders to facilitate pharmacist access to PMP data and seamlessly integrate PMP data into pharmacy workflow.

(Resolution passed at the NABP 111^th Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA)