Michigan’s drug monitoring system has been updated with what state officials call state-of-the-art technology.
The online system provides health care professionals information about certain drugs that have been prescribed in the state. Officials say this information helps doctors make informed decisions before prescribing medication and can red flag so-called drug shoppers.
Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley chaired the Michigan Prescription Drug and Opioid Abuse Task Force. It originally recommended updating the old system – which had been plagued with problems.
“That’s one of the gaps in this fight against the opioid epidemic today is that we just don’t have complete information to take the actions necessary in order to get ahead of this.”
Calley says the new system is faster, updates closer to real time, and is more user friendly.