Florida Drug Monitoring Program Reduces Oxycodone Deaths

Florida’s prescription drug monitoring program is called Prescgram, and it provides data on “prescribing trends” and the controlled substance prescriptions of individuals. A recent study found that since the program’s implementation in 2011 there has been a 25 percent drop in oxycodone-related fatalities.

From 2007 to 2010, Florida saw rampant oxycodone addiction, with rates of oxycodone-related deaths spiking to 118 percent. Despite these kinds of statistics, only 72 percent of doctors nationwide know about their state’s programs and only 53 percent of doctors use said programs.

The study, which is the first of its kind, was conducted by researchers at the University of Florida and was published in the latest issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Chris Delcher, PhD, the lead author of the study, stated “our work fills an urgent need for rigorous evaluation of these programs, so we can see what is working and what could be done better to help us save lives and improve patients’ health care” (Ackerman, 2015).

References

Ackerman, M. (2015). Florida’s prescription drug monitoring program reduces oxycodone-related deaths. Retrieved from http://www.thefix.com/content/floridas-prescription-drug-monitoring-program-reduces-oxycodone-related-deaths

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