Advocacy Group Urges States to Tighten Prescribing Standards for Addictive Drugs

State legislatures should require doctors to use state-run databases that track patients’ history of opioid and sedative prescriptions, according to a report by the advocacy group Shatterproof. Earlier this month, the White House sent letters to governors recommending they require doctors to check the databases before prescribing these drugs, the Associated Press reports.

According to Shatterproof, prescription drug monitoring programs can prevent doctors from accidently prescribing a lethal combination of drugs. “They can also help identify signs of addiction in time to direct patients into treatment,” the group states on its website. The databases can help spot patients who are “doctor shopping” in an attempt to obtain multiple prescriptions. Most states do not require doctors to check the databases before they write a prescription.

The group’s report includes 12 best practices for states to use in drafting laws that would require doctors to check the databases every time they write a prescription for an opioid painkiller or a sedative.

The report notes that a review of 2015 prescribing data in a sample of states where participation in the monitoring programs is voluntary found prescribers checked the patient history in the database only 14 percent of the time before prescribing an opioid.

Physician groups say requiring doctors to check the databases is overly burdensome, the article notes. According to American Medical Association President Dr. Steven Sacks, the databases are slow and difficult to use, and may cause patients to face longer waits and have less time with their doctor.

“There really is a patient safety and quality-of-care cost when you mandate the use of tools that are not easy to use,” Sacks said.

Shatterproof is funded by a former corporate executive, Gary Mendell, whose son Brian died after years of addiction to painkillers.