Prescription Monitoring Programs

Prescription Monitoring Programs
(PMPs)

What are prescription monitoring programs?

Preventing diversion and abuse of prescription controlled substances while ensuring their availability for legitimate medical use is an important public health goal. To be balanced, efforts to prevent diversion of controlled substances should not interfere with their use in the treatment of pain. There are a number of types of information that can be used to identify sources of diversion, including law enforcement intelligence, pharmacy theft data, retail distribution of controlled substances, Medicaid and PMPs.

Thirty-eight states have adopted laws establishing PMPs to monitor the prescribing of certain controlled substances and detect illicit prescribing and dispensing. Typically, PMPs collect prescribing and dispensing data from pharmacies, conduct review and analysis of the data, and make it available under certain circumstances to regulatory and law enforcement agencies, as well as practitioners. Further information about the status and trends of PMPs, as well as Model PMP legistlation from a variety of sources, is available below.

Updated: October 1, 2008

According to a recent review performed by the Pain & Policy Studies Group (PPSG), 38 states (Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma,Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming) have adopted laws establishing Prescription Monitoring Programs (PMPs). The purpose of PMPs is to monitor the prescribing of certain controlled substances to detect illicit prescribing and dispensing and identify patients who are obtaining prescriptions from multiple sources. All 38 PMPs rely on electronic transmission of data from pharmacies, although New York and Texas still require practitioners to obtain and use state-issued, serialized prescription forms in addition to the electronic component. Evidence indicates a continuing increase in the number of states with PMPs or that are considering PMP legislation.

The PPSG encourages research to evaluate the impact of PMPs on both access to medications for patients needing controlled substances for legitimate medical purposes and the incidence of drug abuse and diversion. Through these efforts, an accurate assessment of the success of PMPs in achieving a balanced approach can be made.

Current Status of Prescription Monitoring Programs (PDF)

U.S. Map of States with Prescription Monitoring Programs (PDF)

Read the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management article, "Pain Management and Prescription Monitoring."

The Alliance of State Pain Initiatives Statement on State Prescription Monitoring Programs, January 2008

Model Prescription Monitoring Program Legislation

Using Medicaid data to identify prescription drug diversion

Office of Inspector General. Intiative to improve states' internal controls over prescription drugs purchased under the Medicaid program (A-03-90-000204). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 1990.
United States General Accounting Office. Controlled substances: Medicaid data may be useful for monitoring diversion. Washington, DC: United States General Accounting Office, GAO/HRD-88-111; 1988.
United States General Accounting Office. Medicaid prescription drug diversion: A major problem, but state approaches offer some promise. Washington, DC: United States General Accounting Office, GAO/T-HRD-92-48; 1992.
United States General Accounting Office. Prescription drugs and Medicaid: Automated review systems can help promote safety, save money. Washington, DC: United States General Accounting Office, GAO/AIMD-96-72; 1996.

last updated:
April 12, 2011