On Monday, July 20, 2015, Governor Chris Christie signed legislation expanding the New Jersey Attorney General’s Division of Consumer Affairs Prescription Monitoring Program (NJPMP), which is an online database tracking the prescription sale of controlled dangerous substances (CDS) such as oxycodone. The bill, S-1998, will require that prescribers and pharmacists register for NJPMP access, and that prescribers consult the NJPMP under limited circumstances. These limited circumstances include the first time a physician prescribes a Schedule II CDS.
The NJPMP is designed to help prevent “doctor shopping,” where patients will go from doctor to doctor, most commonly complaining of pain, and collecting prescriptions for CDS such as Percocet. The NJPMP contains data on more than 48.4 million prescriptions for CDS and human growth hormone, and is a centralized database for prescribers to see if their patient had received the medication from another doctor, among other things. A physician must check the NJPMP at least quarterly thereafter for patients to continue to receive medications.
For pharmacists, they are required to submit information for any individual that picks up a prescription for a patient every seven days, as opposed to the previous 30 days. Additionally, this requirement becomes even more stringent, as pharmacies will have to update this information daily starting on September 1, 2015. Frier Levitt has developed a flat fee program to assist pharmacies and physicians with PMP compliance. If you have questions about this law, contact Frier Levitt today.
