The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) InterConnect program to allow sharing of prescription-monitoring information among states has completed its first year of operation. Through InterConnect, authorized users in participating states can request and receive a patient’s prescription information from other participating states.

During the first year of operation, nine prescription-monitoring programs (PMPs) joined InterConnect and are now fully connected. Several other states intend to participate. When these states become fully operational, 22 states will be sharing data via NABP InterConnect. States now sharing data are Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, and Virginia. Recently signing on is New Mexico.

The practice of doctor or pharmacy shopping to illegally obtain prescription drugs was linked to drug-related deaths in a study using data from West Virginia’s PMP. The study showed that approximately 25% of people with drug-related deaths had been doctor shoppers. Almost 18% were pharmacy shoppers, visiting multiple pharmacies to have prescriptions filled. The study concluded that PMPs may be useful in assisting healthcare providers to identify doctor and pharmacy shoppers at the point of care.