FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Alicia Bork
DSPS Announces Launch of Enhanced Prescription Drug Monitoring Program
Governor Walker Applauds Dedication to Fighting Prescription Drug Abuse, Misuse, Diversion
Madison, WI – Today, the Department of Safety and Professional Services announced the launch of the Wisconsin enhanced Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (WI ePDMP) which is set to go live on Tuesday, January 17, 2016. The announcement comes a day after Governor Walker toured the state to discuss the recommendations issued by the Task Force on Opioid Abuse.
“The enhanced Prescription Drug Monitoring Program is a central hub in the continuing fight against prescription drug abuse in Wisconsin,” said Governor Walker. “It further allows pharmacies, healthcare professionals, law enforcement agencies, and public health officials to work together to reduce the misuse, abuse and diversion of prescribed controlled substance drugs.”
The original Wisconsin PDMP was deployed in June 2013 and is administered by the Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS). Since its inception, the PDMP has primarily been a tool to help healthcare professionals make more informed decisions about prescribing and dispensing controlled substance prescriptions to patients. It also discloses data as authorized by law to governmental and law enforcement agencies. It stores over 45 million prescription records submitted by over 2,000 pharmacies and dispensing practitioners.
The WI ePDMP will allow for value-added healthcare workflow integration, improved data quality capabilities, and maximized public health and public safety use. The new system will also contain analytics and visualizations to draw attention to the most relevant and potentially concerning data in each report, such as a patient’s high levels of opioid consumption or dangerous combination of drugs.
In March 2016, 2015 Wisconsin Act 267 was enacted providing that PDMP reporting requirements be released 30 days after the end of each quarter. The first report released in October showed that between July 1 and September 30, 2016 there was a 9.63 percent reduction in prescriptions and a 9.89 percent reduction in drug doses as compared to the same period in 2015; an 8.2 million drug dose reduction.
“We are proud of the PDMP and the work that has been done to get prescription drugs out of the hands of those who abuse them,” said DSPS Secretary Dave Ross. “We are excited for the launch of the WI ePDMP which will ensure the critical information it stores is timely, accurate and thoughtfully displayed for all users of the program, allowing for greater functionality in fighting this growing epidemic.”
The WI ePDMP contains data about schedule II-V controlled substance prescriptions reported by pharmacies that dispense in Wisconsin, including out-of-state pharmacies. Currently, all dispensers are required by law to submit dispensing data to the PDMP, and law enforcement agencies are required to submit reports about suspected controlled substance overdose events and violations of the Controlled Substances Act.
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