NCJ Number
249113
Date Published
July 2015
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This report summarizes findings on the impact of Kentucky's law that is intended to counter the diversion of prescription drugs for uncontrolled and abusive use.
Abstract
This landmark legislation (HB1) makes participation in the State's Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) mandatory for specified parties authorized to dispense prescription drugs. HB1 regulates pain clinics and sets new requirements for prescribers and dispensers of controlled substances, including mandatory registration with the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting (KASPER) system. These parties are also required to consult the KASPER system under specified circumstances. In addition, HB1 requires dispensers of controlled substances to report dispensing records to KASPER within 1 day of dispensing. The University of Kentucky's Institute for Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy recently released a Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) - funded study that examined the impact of HB1. The study found that since HB1's enactment in July 2012 to March 2015, the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure has taken 196 disciplinary actions against 142 physicians for controlled substance prescribing. Also, since the enactment of HB1, the number of persons meeting the definition of "doctor shopping" (persons receiving multiple prescriptions from four or more different prescribers and filled at four or more different pharmacies within a specified time period) has decreased by over 50 percent. The number of licensed prescribers registered with KASPER has increased from 28 percent of providers to 95 percent. For the first time in 6 years, State overdose deaths declined in 2013. The number of controlled substance prescriptions decreased for the first time since the inception of KASPER. Twenty-four non-physician-owned pain management facilities closed.