Tools & Strategies News

Partnership Maps Opioid Measures to Use State-Level Prescription Data

Four Pharmacy Quality Alliance opioid measures will be adapted to leverage state prescription drug monitoring program data.

Partnership maps opioid measures to use state prescription data

Source: Thinkstock

By Jessica Kent

- The Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) is partnering with the Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Patients (CRISP) to map four PQA opioid measures so the organizations can utilize Maryland’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) data.

PQA is a national quality organization dedicated to improving medication safety and appropriate use. PQA quality measures support better medication use and better patient outcomes. CRISP, a regional non-profit health information exchange serving Maryland and the District of Columbia, works to facilitate the flow of clinical information among disparate health information systems. CRISP also serves as the technology partner and vendor for the Maryland PDMP program.

The partnership between PQA and CRISP addresses provisions of the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, which requires states to have a qualified PDMP by October 1, 2021. Additionally, the SUPPORT Act requires certain Medicaid providers to check information about some beneficiaries’ prescription drug histories before prescribing controlled substances.

“PQA’s quality measures are important tools in the effort to address opioid misuse and overdose,” said Laura Cranston, RPh, PQA Chief Executive Officer. “Mapping our measures for use in state Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs will help achieve a national goal of improving the ability to report on and evaluate patients’ opioid prescriptions. We believe this model can be implemented nationwide for these and other measures that support safe and appropriate use of medications.”

The partnership is made possible by funding from CMS, which helps support qualified PDMPs to report on PQA opioid measures and contribute to program evaluation. The four PQA opioid measures include: Concurrent use of opioids and Benzodiazepines, use of opioids at high dosage in persons without cancer, use of opioids from multiple providers in persons without cancer, and use of opioids at high dosage and from multiple providers in persons without cancer.

PQA’s opioid measures are currently calculated using administrative claims data. They will be converted to use PDMP, claims, and clinical data, which will support proactive reporting on the measures between PDMPs and CMS. The project will aim to adapt measures that PDMPs across the country can use.

“Combating the opioid epidemic is vitally important to our country, so we are excited for the unique opportunity to work with PQA to craft measures that can utilize PDMP and other valuable state-level data,” said Lindsey Ferris, DrPH, CRISP Program Director of HIE Projects.

This partnership will add to CRISP’s efforts to facilitate the use of prescription drug information in Maryland. In April 2019, the organization awarded a five-year contract to health IT solutions provider NIC to launch a new PDMP. The update enabled providers to integrate PDMP data directly into EHR workflows.

“Maryland was one of the last states to adopt the PDMP,” said Lindsey Ferris, the PDMP Program Director at CRISP. “The state didn't want to have yet another portal for providers to have to log into to view clinical information that's relevant to the care of their patients. They partnered with us, and we've been serving as their PDMP technology since then.”

“We’ve embedded the PDMP data into the EHR in a lot of different ways,” she added. “It depends on the EHR vendor and how we are able to deliver it, but some of the best workflows I’ve seen are displaying information at the time of placing an order for an opioid or benzodiazepine.”