Bill to mandate use of PMP deferred
27 January 2012
Sen. Bill Carrico (R-40th, Grayson) requested that his bill mandating use of the Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP), SB 320, be carried over for the year after hearing of the efforts by the Medical Society of Virginia (MSV), One Care of Southwest Virginia, and other stakeholder groups to provide substance abuse education to prescribers in 2011. He was also encouraged to hear that additional programs will be taking place in new regions of the state in 2012. As a result of MSV and One Care's work on these issues, the bill will not be considered this year.
SB 320 would have required that any provider who prescribes to a patient a controlled substance included in Schedule II, III, or IV of the Drug Control Act to request and review information about that patient from the PMP, and to continue to do so at least annually for so long as the prescriber continues to prescribe the controlled substance to the patient. Similar bills were introduced during the 2011 General Assembly session.
Last year as an alternative to legislation, MSV joined with dentists, nurse practitioners and hospitals to offer to host a series of forums to bring information to providers on pain management and the PMP. MSV has worked with Ralph Orr, the PMP Manager, to promote usage of the PMP by physicians. Mr. Orr demonstrated how to use the PMP at MSV’s 2011 Annual Meeting.
Related resources