ATTENTION ALL PRESCRIBERS!

The following is an email received from Denise Robertson, Administrator of the Arkansas Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. Please protect your prescribing privilege and become familiar with Act 820 of 2017.

"Good morning.

This notice is to update prescribers on new PMP legislation that was passed this session. Act 820 of 2017 mandates that a prescriber access the Arkansas Prescription Monitoring Program in the following circumstances:

1. Each time a CII opioid is prescribed.  
2. Each time a CIII opioid is prescribed.
3. The first time a benzodiazepine is prescribed.

There are exemptions to this mandate that pertain to surgery, oncology, palliative and hospice care. Please read the law in its entirety so that you know what is required of you. The new law goes into effect 07/31/2017.

The link to the law is provided HERE and attached.

Several changes to the AR PMP are scheduled through the latter part of 2017.  Pharmacies will begin uploading on a daily basis instead of weekly. This will give you access to more timely patient controlled substance history. Also, the website format will change to that of our new software vendor. Two bits of good news are that you will only have to attest to the liability statement once during a log in period instead of each time you query AND you will have the option to do a batch query where several patients can be queried at the same time. These two enhancements should speed up your searches. You will receive emails from Appriss Health alerting you when to expect the change. As in the past, there will be a training guide posted on the website for reference.

If you have any questions about Act 820, please direct them to your licensing board, for they will be writing the rules and regulations that apply.

Denise Robertson, P.D.
AR PMP Administrator
denise.robertson@arkansas.gov"