Prescriber response to unsolicited prescription drug monitoring program reports in Massachusetts.

Purpose: To describe prescriber response to unsolicited patient reports from the Massachusetts prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP).

Methods: Prescribers were surveyed upon receipt of unsolicited reports of their patients' prescription history and three months later. We assessed prescribers' awareness of other prescribers listed in the report, their clinical assessment of medical necessity of all prescribed medications, actions taken by prescribers after receiving the report, and usefulness of the report.

Early experience with electronic prescribing of controlled substances in a community setting.

Background: In 2010, the US Drug Enforcement Administration issued regulations allowing electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS), a practice previously prohibited.

Objective: To carry out a survey of the experience of prescribers in the nation's first study of EPCS implementation.

Materials And Methods: Prescribers were surveyed in a community setting before and after implementation of EPCS, to assess adoption, attitudes, and challenges.

Prescribers' expectations and barriers to electronic prescribing of controlled substances.

Objective: To better understand barriers associated with the adoption and use of electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS), a practice recently established by US Drug Enforcement Administration regulation.

Materials And Methods: Prescribers of controlled substances affiliated with a regional health system were surveyed regarding current electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) activities, current prescribing of controlled substances, and expectations and barriers to the adoption of EPCS.

Results: 246 prescribers (response rate of 64%) represented a range of medical specialties, with 43.

Update on prescription monitoring in clinical practice: a survey study of prescription monitoring program administrators.

Objective: Prescription drug abuse and undertreatment of pain are public health priorities in the United States. Few options to manage these problems are balanced, in simultaneously supporting pain relief and deterring prescription drug abuse. Prescription monitoring programs (PMPs) potentially offer a balanced approach; however, the medical/scientific communities are not well informed about their current status and potential risks/benefits.

Pain management and prescription monitoring.

Preventing diversion and abuse of prescription controlled substances while ensuring their availability for legitimate medical use is an important public health goal in the United States. In one approach to preventing and identifying drug diversion, 17 states have implemented prescription monitoring programs (PMPs) to monitor the prescribing of certain controlled substances. While PMPs are not intended to interfere with legitimate prescribing, some in the pain management community feel that they negatively affect prescribing for pain management.