24/7 Access to Virginia Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) Now Available

The Virginia Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) is pleased to announce that requests for prescription history informa¬tion on drugs in Schedules II, III, or IV for a specific individual may now be made online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with an automated response being received within approximately one minute. This newly automated process has significantly increased the number of requests that can be processed daily and allows a prescriber or pharmacist to request information during nights and weekends when the information may be needed the most.

The prescription monitoring program collects prescription data for Schedule II-IV drugs into a central database which can then be used by limited authorized users to assist in deterring the illegitimate use of prescription drugs. The information collected in this program is maintained by the Virginia Department of Health Professions, and strict security and confidentiality measures are enforced. Only those persons authorized by law can be provided information from the database, and the list of authorized persons is very limited. Prescribers and dispensers may query the database to assist in determining treatment history and to rule out the possibility that a patient is "doctor shopping" or "scamming" in order to obtain controlled substances.

As of May 13th, 2009, prescribers are no longer required to obtain individual written consent from their patients to receive a PMP Report. A written notice in a public area of your office staring that your practice may utilize the PMP program to obtain patient histories is sufficient. If you prefer, you may continue to obtain individual written consent for each patient.

If you are a prescriber or pharmacist and have not registered to use the program you will find registration form & instructions at http://www.dhp.virginia.gov/dhp_programs/pmp/default.asp