Program to red flag prescription drug abuse
Published Wednesday November 25th, 2009
New system in N.B. | Minister says health information will be protected
A $1.2-million program to fight prescription drug abuse was introduced by the Liberal government Tuesday.
The Liberals also announced amendments to the Personal Health Information Privacy and Access Act to ensure information on people's prescriptions isn't abused.
"The misuse and abuse of narcotics and controlled drugs is a serious problem in our society," said Health Minister Mary Schryer.
"The prescription monitoring program has been designed to provide information to prescribers to assist in patient-care decision making and promote optimal prescribing and utilization of monitored drugs," she said.
It will cost $1.2 million to set up the prescription drug monitoring system and $500,000 a year to operate it.
The new system, which was promised in the Liberal government's Charter for Change and most recently in the throne speech, will be in place by 2011, she said.
Only Nova Scotia has a similar program in Atlantic Canada.
In this province, coroners' inquests into deaths related to prescription drugs called for such a program in 2002, 2003 and 2004.
Schryer said the system will be available to doctors, pharmacists and dentists.
It will provide real-time information on double doctoring or people trying to fill multiple prescriptions from multiple doctors.
The system will be updated as soon as a prescription is entered.
"It will enable early identification and management of patients at risk for addiction," she said.
The network will also allow the health department to review, analyze and report on patterns of prescription drug use for the benefit of the health-care system, said Schryer.
That could allow the detection of cancer hot spots based on the drugs being used to treat illnesses, she said.
It will also red flag adverse interactions between different drugs that have been prescribed, said Schryer.
"Somebody may not realize they are misusing," she said.
"It could be somebody confused with dementia."
To share the prescription drug information on a network, the government had to amend the Personal Health Information Privacy and Access Act to allow the system to monitor prescriptions.
But Schryer insisted a patient's personal health information will be well guarded.
"Like other personal health information, the information to be collected under this program is sensitive in nature and its confidentiality and security must be strictly protected.
"The provisions of the Personal Health Information Privacy and Access Act will apply to this information, except as required to meet the objectives of the prescription monitoring program.''
Schryer said she couldn't comment on possible penalties for violating the privacy regulations.
Official Opposition health critic Margaret-Ann Blaney said it's about time the government acted.
"It is certainly something pharmacists in particular have been asking for for a long time," she said Tuesday.
Blaney said the government has had a director of prescription drug monitoring in place for more than a year.
"My biggest question is how long is it going to take to get the regulations in place," she said.
"They have supposedly been working on this for a very long time."
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I tried to double up on a refill of my perscription once just so I wouldn't have to go to the pharmacy for a while. The pharmacist refused to give me the double refill saying that until the refill I had recieved was all but used up, they were not going to comply with my request. I was a bit annoyed but I understood and looking back on it, he was right. The perscription was not for a drug that was habbit forming.
If Doctors and Pharmacists practice due dilligence and work together, I can't see the need for yet another program that will put another financial drain to be paid by us, the taxpayers.
There are way more positives from this that worrying about $500,000 of operating costs a year. I believe that 100x or more is wasted every year by the government. This is a smart investment.
If a person has no perscription coverage then the cost of any drug that can alter your reasoning would cost prohibitive for the average person. I use a common inhailer that costs 135 dollars and if I didn't have coverage, I would not be able to afford them unless I cut back on something else. I can't imagine what some of the drugs cost people who have no medical coverage.
You are right about someone going to multiple doctors and pharmacies. Do you think it is worth the cost to identify the few who do it???? That's a lot of money and the total is only a gestimate.
Just a thought
Depends on the Rx. Dilaudid and Oxycontin are not that expensive. Hypothetically (and I don't know the actual costs involved), if 60 Dilaudid 10 mg cost a person $60, and if you got 3 different Rx's from 3 different docs (who don't know you are seeing the others), and filled them at 3 different pharmacy chains, it has cost you $180. I have heard that 10 mg D's can go for over $10 apiece on the street. Think about it, not only can you get your fix for the month (I don't mean you, just hypothetically), you can make enough money to pay for your next month's supply and have a huge profit on top of that. And nobody is the wiser. It's also happening alot more than you think in this province.
You also have to think of what the province is paying for multiple Dr's visits, treatment costs for addicts, as well as the judicial costs for those addicts who commit crimes. I hope this program works.