Prescribers and pharmacists requests for prescription monitoring program (PMP) data: does PMP structure matter?

Prescription monitoring programs (PMPs) have been purported to be an effective tool to combat prescription drug abuse. However, utilization rates of PMP data by health care providers (e.g., prescribers and pharmacists) is relatively low. The objectives of the study were to describe (1) PMP utilization (e.g., requested reports) by prescribers, pharmacists, and law enforcement for active state PMPs; (2) PMP utilization by health care providers with and without online access; (3) average annual operational costs for PMPs from 2008 to 2009; and (4) PMP requests based on PMP housing authority (law enforcement vs. non-law enforcement [e.g., board of pharmacy]). This was a cross-sectional study employing a Web-based survey. A 16-item questionnaire was e-mailed to the 33 operational state PMP administrators and responses were collected from January to March 2011. Descriptive statistics were used to describe PMP request rates and annual operating costs. The usable survey response rate was 45.5%. Among all authorized users, prescribers had higher mean (±SD) requests per 100,000 population (2198.2 ± 3218.0) compared with pharmacists' requests (268.9 ± 261.2). Online accessibility resulted in higher request rates per 100,000 population (2996.4 ± 3021.5) compared with mail/fax access (14.6 ± 2.8). On average, PMP annual costs were $12,515 ± $14,911 per 100,000 population. In law enforcement-governed PMPs, health care provider utilization was lower compared with PMPs under health or pharmacy boards. Prescriber request rates were higher than pharmacists and online access for providers (e.g., prescribers and pharmacists) resulted in higher request rates per 100,000 population. More research is needed to determine other factors that may be associated with PMP utilization by prescribers and pharmacists.