Florida drug record requests up 61%, oxycodone deaths down 41%
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Florida's prescription drug monitoring program saw a 61% increase in record requests from 2012 to 2013, while oxycodone-related deaths fell 41% last year, state officials said this week.
The Florida Department of Health released its annual report Sunday on the Electronic-Florida Online Reporting of Controlled Substances Evaluation program. The voluntary system was implemented in 2011 to help doctors and pharmacists monitor prescriptions of controlled medications, including narcotics, in the state.
Prescriptions for oxycodone fell 24% in Florida last year, while prescriptions for methadone fell 8%, the state health department said. The prescription monitoring system also saw a 28% increase last year in health care provider registrations.
The state report also showed recent declines in doctor shopping. Between 2011 and 2013, there was a 51% reduction in patients who visited more than five prescribers or pharmacies in a 90-day period, and a 61% reduction in patients who visited six or more prescribers or pharmacies within 90 days.
“The data supports that as registration and health care practitioner use of E-FORCSE increases, doctor shopping decreases,” the report reads.
