At one point in time, I thought that the PMP programs now in 30 odd states was a good idea. Healthcare professionals would have a database of those trying to obtain opiates & controlled substances from multiple prescribers and/or pharmacies. After roughly 10 yrs… some of the states are linking their individual databases so that bordering states could share data. The first problem with these databases is that few healthcare professional signed up to use them and even fewer used them on a routine basis.
Put yourself in the diverter’s place… these databases have been around long enough that they are pretty well known… Even if you are paying cash, you don’t want to use the same name/address when you go to various prescribers and pharmacies. The easiest answer is to get a number of driver’s license ID’s under various names and addresses. Have you ever questioned a driver’s license validity? Of course not, you don’t have access to the state’s driver’s license database and besides..they are nearly impossible to forge… RIGHT ???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbpBsEsMoNgtook me
Look at this video… the how to create a forged driver’s license ! The diverter/addict creates dozens of ID’s … pay cash at the prescriber and pharmacy and the information provided is scattered all over the PMP… and we are spending millions and millions of dollars on operating these databases and the people that we are trying to catch… are light years ahead of us.
Here is a wild idea… give healthcare professional the ability to verify – in real time – driver’s license on the state’s data base ! Of course, that would mean that we might even be able to put a dent into drug diversion from the prescriber & pharmacy.
But it will never work… it would not require a new bureaucracy, bigger budget or more personnel and it might mean fewer people working to fight the war on drugs… no bureaucrat.. worth their salt … would get behind this… it is “unbureaucratic “
Filed under: Mistakes/Errors
You can’t always get what you want. But IF YOU TRY REAL HARD, YOU JUST MIGHT GET WHAT YOU NEED. SIR MICK JAGGER’S TAKE ON THE ENDEMIC JUSTIFICATION OF GIMMY. HERE comes your 19th nervous breakdown. As she walked out the door, she took four more. “What a drag it is getting old.”
This is not a right or wrong question with a outcome expected to be a panacea. No monitoring system is in force in every locale. Even if duplication exists, The prescriber has a alternative or two. Example: a listing for a 2nd or 3rd benzodiazapine of similarly may be OK to render. alprazolam is indicated for at least 3 indications. Sedation, depression, panic disorder and as a efficacious means of avoiding other hs Rx’s. So, if your professional judgements offer a compliance-and you are in good stead with a seriously distressed Pt. Let it go. Another place will fill it. If deadset against it, Pandora’s box and Murphys law may go in effect. Anyway- no failsafe monitoring quasi official legislative guidelines are IN EXISTENCE. DEFINITELY INCONCLUSIVE.(CATCH 22.)
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