Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs: An Assessment of the Evidence for Best Practices

• NCJ Number: 243262
• Author(s): Thomas Clark; John Eadie; Peter Kreiner, Ph.D.; Gail Strickler, Ph.D.
• Date Published: September 2012
• Length: 100 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Pew Charitable Trust
• Corporate Author: Brandeis University
• Publication Format: Document; Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This "white-paper" outlines what is known about State prescription drug monitoring programs' (PDMPs) best practices, describes and assesses the evidence that supports their identification as best practices, and documents the extent to which PDMPs have implemented these practices.

Abstract

The function of PDMPs is to facilitate appropriate prescribing of controlled prescription drugs and to assist in addressing the prescription drug abuse epidemic. One section of this paper reviews the history of PDMPs and presents a conceptual framework for assessing their effectiveness. The discussion notes that the contexts in which PDMPs developed have influenced the range of PDMP practices and the extent of their current adoption. Practices can be organized in terms of PDMP workflow and functions (e.g., data collection, analysis, and reporting). Their effectiveness can be assessed by observing their differential impact in achieving intermediate objectives, such as increasing the use of PDMPs by all appropriate end users and ultimate goals, such as improving patient health and reducing the diversion of prescription drugs into illegal use (drug diversion) and overdose. This is followed by a section that presents an overview of the paper's methods and a discussion of the types of evidence needed to determine a PDMP's effectiveness, the relative strength of the methods and evidence, and how the current evidence base for determining PDMP best practices is assessed. A section then describes candidate PDMP best practices, the extent to which they are implemented by PDMPs, and the evidence base for each practice; barriers to their adoption are identified. Next, a section presents conclusions and recommendations regarding PDMP best practices. It includes a table that summarizes the types of evidence that exist for each practice and the strength and consistency of evidence within those types. This section also outlines a research agenda. 98 references and appended supplementary data and information