County Implementing Prescription Drug Monitoring Program

McDonald County Commission recently adopted an ordinance enacting a Prescription Drug Monitoring program. Drug overdose deaths and opioid involved deaths continue to rise in the United States. Since 1999, opioid prescriptions have quadrupled, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Missouri is the only state without a prescription drug monitoring program. Saint Louis County Department of Public Health has assisted 37 counties that have passed ordinances with implementation of a PDMP and will assist McDonald County pharmacies as well.

The role of a PDMP is to collect data from pharmacies on controlled substances dispensed and allow that data to be available to authorized users — physicians and pharmacists. According to the CDC, PDMPs improve patient safety by allowing clinicians to identify patients who are receiving opioid’s from multiple providers, calculate the amount of opioids prescribed, and identify patients who are being prescribed substances that may increase the risk of opioid or adverse reactions.

The McDonald County Health Department will assist the Saint Louis County Department of Public Health to establish and maintain the PDMP in McDonald County. Local pharmacies will begin sending information to the PDMP on Sept. 1. The system will be activated on Oct. 1, allowing authorized users to view data on prescriptions filled.

The Saint. Louis County Department of Public Health PDMP allows any Missouri jurisdiction that passes an ordinance to participate in their PDMP.