As Michigan continues addressing the growing opioid epidemic, the state is adding another major retail pharmacy to its drug tracking system design to combat the opioid crisis.
“It’s very tragic in just how much this issue is literally ruining not only families, individuals but also communities.”
Kim Gaedeke is the Acting Deputy Director of Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. She explains that when it comes to opioid addiction there are two issues confronting society.
The first are licensed health care professional licensed to prescribe controlled substances disregarding patient safety by overprescribing or over-dispensing opioids. The second aspect is individuals turning to illicit drugs.
Michigan Automated Prescription System, or MAPS, is the state’s electronic prescription drug monitoring system.
“And so what that system does is that it allows for that prescriber to check to see if, number one, you’re in the system. And if you are, have you received a dispensed prescription or have been sent schedule 2-5 controlled substance within a period of time? That will all be in that system.”
Strengthen the system is critical to its success. With more than 13,000 licensed pharmacists in the state only a little more than half are using MAPS. That’s beginning to change. Earlier this year Kroger Stores integrated its pharmacies and this month Meijer integrated its retail pharmacies.
“They’re verifying who prescribed it and they can also pull up the history to see, ‘Oh, wow! Not only have they gone to five different doctors but this is the fifth pharmacist they’re going to as well.' And so they can also look at that history and the pharmacist does have the ability to then at that point also confront that patient.”
The state says its improved MAP platform “has the fastest response time in the drug monitoring industry. Record lookups that once took up to 10 minutes now are completed in seconds.”
Patrick Center, WGVU News.