Minnesota Board of Pharmacy

The Minnesota Board of Pharmacy is partnering with J-PAL North America to identify ways to increase the use of Minnesota’s prescription monitoring program (PMP) and measure the impact of that increased use on prescribers’ rate of controlled substance prescriptions and other tertiary outcomes. The PMP database maintains a secure record of all controlled substance prescriptions, and more frequent use of the database may help avoid prescribing to individuals misusing opioids and, instead, allow prescribers to make referrals to treatment services. One idea for a randomized evaluation would test the impact of sending behaviorally-informed mailings or electronic notifications to nudge prescribers of controlled substances to use the database. A second idea for evaluation would test the impact of integrating access to the PMP database into the clinical workflow of a major healthcare system via their electronic medical record (EMR) system. The proposed evaluations would measure the impact of these interventions on the frequency with which practitioners prescribe opioids, their practice specialty, the dosage prescribed, change in prescribing (lower dose, change in drug type), and other measures related to access or use of the PMP.