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State monitoring program reduces prescription drug abuse

GoErie.com: Pennsylvania was one of the last states to implement a prescription drug monitoring program, but it has been critical in reducing doctor shopping, the state’s physician general said.

It was nearly impossible to track doctor shopping before Pennsylvania implemented a prescription drug monitoring program a year ago.

Doctor shopping is the practice of visiting multiple physicians to obtain multiple prescriptions for opioids or benzodiazepines, classes of drugs that would otherwise be illegal.

Pennsylvania was one of the last states to implement a prescription drug monitoring program, but it has been critical in reducing doctor shopping, Rachel Levine, M.D., Pennsylvania’s acting secretary of health and physician general, said at a news conference Aug. 31, which was International Overdose Day.

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