Mobile App Connects Pharmacists to State PDMP

Pharmacists in New Jersey now have a new tool to use in their efforts to prevent drug diversion and abuse, thanks to a mobile app recently launched by the state’s Division of Consumer Affairs.

The app grants authorized users access to a database managed by New Jersey’s Prescription Drug Management Program (PDMP), where they can view data on prescriptions for controlled substances such as opiate painkillers and human growth hormones filled statewide.

App users can also use the database to identify patients who have visited multiple physicians or pharmacies in an attempt to obtain more prescription drugs than what would normally be dispensed by a single provider. Additionally, prescribers can check whether they have unknowingly prescribed medications to patients who previously committed prescription fraud.

“We’re working hard to expand the use of the [PDMP] and this new app is the latest in an ongoing series of upgrades to the [New Jersey Prescription Monitoring Program (NJPMP)] since we launched it in late 2011,” said New Jersey Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman in a statement. “The more user-friendly we make the NJPMP, the more prescribers and pharmacists will use it. Their participation is of critical importance as we collectively work to address prescription drug abuse.”

As of early April 2015, 88.4% of New Jersey’s 29,400 licensed doctors have registered to use the NJPMP database.

The app, which is simply named “New Jersey Prescription Monitoring Program,” can be downloaded for free exclusively on iPhones, though the NJPMP plans to make the app available for Android and Windows devices this summer.