Prescribing Systems

54 operational prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMP) exist in the United States (49 states; St. Louis County, Missouri; the District of Columbia; and three U.S. territories—Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico). These systems can provide critical information to investigations. However, state PDMP data may be difficult to access due to state laws. Twenty-nine states were funded by CDC through the Prevention for States funding to maximize the use of PDMPs and collect indicators of opioid prescriptions.  An additional 13 states and the District of Columbia were funded by CDC through the Data-Driven Prevention Initiative (DDPI) to improve data collection related to opioid use and overdose, including PDMP data. Through supplemental drug overdose opioid funding, CDC supports additional PDMP data integration activities with mortality data and health information exchanges through programs such as Overdose Data To Action . Indicator data from these projects and data sharing relationships with PDMPs built under this project may be useful to inform response efforts. 

MMWR published a surveillance summary of data collected by eight state PDMP systems.  The summary provides insight into possible key indicators to track as part of the response effort.