COLUMBUS, Ohio (WKBN) – Ohio will begin using a new tool in its fight against prescription drug abuse.

An upgrade to the state’s prescription drug tracking system will now include scores that calculate a patient’s possible risk of overdose and addiction. The scores will act as red flags to alert prescribers of potential safety issues.

The new tool offers several features, including interactive visualization of prescription data, messaging options to communicate with other healthcare providers and the ability to search for local addiction treatment providers.

The system will be made available at no cost to Ohio healthcare providers who use the Ohio Automated RX Reporting System.

“Ohio has been a national leader in tracking the dispensing of prescription drugs to patients,” said Ohio Department of Medicaid Medical Director Dr. Mary Applegate. “This upgraded drug monitoring platform will offer critical information to Ohio clinicians to help them provide better and safer treatment for their patients.”

Ohio has been strengthening its prescription drug monitoring program to give prescribers and pharmacists greater ability to prevent opiate abuse. As a result, doctor shopping – where individuals see multiple prescribers to obtain controlled substances illicitly – has decreased substantially and the total number of opiates dispensed to patients is down 20 percent over a four-year period. according to Ohio Board of Pharmacy.

Is this going to be another “guideline” to force prescribers/pharmacists into compliance … and/or used as a “gauge” for the bureaucracy to go after prescribers/pharmacists for being a “pill mill”… Once again this appears to be focusing on the “few” … while denying care to the many who have a valid medical need for this category of medications.  Forget a pt’s CYP-450 liver enzymes that can cause a pt to metabolize opiates faster and/or the severity of pain of a particular pt. So is Ohio adding a “scoring system” on top of the DEA’s “red flag” system