Commission Could Vote Soon On Drug Monitoring Program

The Crawford County Commission could vote in the next few weeks to enact an ordinance setting up a prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) through the St. Louis County Health Department.

Crawford County Health Department Director Honor Evans announced in May that they received a grant to participate in the program, which encompasses more than 50 counties in the state. 

Missouri is the only state in the country without a comprehensive statewide program. St. Louis County created a PDMP with the hope of other counties across the state joining in. The goal is to reduce prescription drugs from being over-prescribed, leading to the widespread availability of narcotics. The state is deep in the throes of an opioid crisis as a result.

Eighty-five percent of all opioid prescriptions come from hydrocodone, oxycodone and tramadol, according to the St. Louis County Health Department.

Evans said when a doctor prescribes a drug and the dispenser fills it, that history will be tracked in the county database. 

Once the ordinance is passed, it will take three months for the St. Louis County Health Department to implement Crawford County. 

“St. Louis County spends those months contacting pharmacies and providers and lets them know they’ll be required to report drugs prescribed,” Evans said. “They take on the brunt of the work, do most of the outreach and handle all of the data through their PMP (prescription monitoring program). The workload on (Crawford) county is very minimal.”

Doctors and pharmacists are the only users authorized to have direct, full access to the database. Patients may request a history, but state boards, law enforcement, Missouri HealthNet and judicial officers will be restricted or limited. Evans said they must subpoena those records to gain access.

A provider alert is triggered when a patient obtains a controlled substance written by three or more prescribers and filled at three or more pharmacies within a six-month period.

Evans said she has talked to pharmacists throughout the county who are on board. 

“The biggest burden is placed on pharmacists, but I’ve gotten good feedback,” she said. “They are very glad to hear we’re taking this step.”

Three counties adjacent to Crawford County have also joined — Franklin, Gasconade and Iron. Dent and Phelps counties have not joined. Every county between Crawford and Greene, which contains Springfield, have not joined. A large swath of the state south of Crawford, down to the Arkansas border also have not joined.