Recommendation

Congress should require that eligibility for grants to improve Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs is contingent on interstate data sharing and that the CDC publish a report detailing best practices on the use of this data.

Details

States rely on Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs)—databases that track controlled substance prescriptions—to inform prescribing and prescription fulfillment practices. PDMPs have the potential to be highly effective tools to prevent prescription drug abuse, and sharing PDMP data between states would prevent people from shopping for doctors and pharmacies across state lines and create better records about people who move to different states. To ensure states effectively leverage PDMP data, Congress should require that eligibility for grants to improve PDMPs be contingent on interstate data sharing, and the Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should analyze state policies and publish a report detailing best practices on the use of PDMP data.

Keep reading:

▪ Joshua New, “How Data Can Help in the Fight Against the Opioid Epidemic in the United States” (Center for Data Innovation, November 2019), https://www.datainnovation.org/2019/11/how-data-can-help-in-the-fight-against-the-opioid-epidemic-in-the-united-states.