MOUNT PROSPECT, Ill., March 22, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ —
The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy® (NABP®) is
pleased to announce that the prescription monitoring programs
(PMPs) of North
Dakota, Ohio, and Virginia
have entered into agreements to participate in the PMP
Interconnect™ system, currently under development. PMP
Interconnect will allow PMPs across the United States to be linked,
providing a more effective means of combating drug diversion and
drug abuse nationwide.

PMPs collect prescription data for controlled substances so that
physicians and pharmacists can get a complete picture of patients’
controlled substance use. Access to this information plays a great
role in early detection of prescription abuse and doctor shopping,
to allow appropriate intervention and prevention of substance abuse and
possible diversion of controlled substances. Current systems,
however, lack interoperability and data sharing among states,
making these efforts much more difficult to accomplish and making
it easier for doctor shoppers to avoid detection by obtaining
prescriptions from doctors and pharmacies in multiple states.
 

“NABP thanks the North Dakota, Ohio, and Virginia PMPs for being
on the forefront of PMP Interconnect with their signing of
memorandums of understanding,” says NABP
President William T. Winsley, MS, RPh. “Participation of PMPs
nationwide is a key component of successfully fighting the
diversion and abuse of controlled substances. Creating a web of
connected PMPs will enhance the benefits of these programs by
providing the means for physicians and pharmaci

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