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BACKGROUND: Currently, New Mexico pharmacies are directed to report all controlled substance prescriptions to the Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) within seven days of filling the prescription. The seven day reporting lag may allow patients to fill multiple prescriptions within a week without being “flagged” in the PMP. Changing the reporting requirement from seven days to one day could potentially prevent individuals from filling multiple prescriptions within a week, and thereby prevent deaths from overdose. The objective of this study was to determine the number of New Mexicans who died of a drug overdose and who filled multiple prescriptions within a seven day time in the month before their death.
METHODS: Individuals in the PMP were matched by partial name and date of birth to deaths classified as drug overdoses by the Office of Medical Investigator (OMI) in 2006-2011. The analysis was limited to individuals with prescriptions 1) matching a drug listed as contributing to the person’s death and 2) with an end date (date filled plus days supply) no more than seven days prior to the date of death. Individuals were included in this analysis if they filled a second prescription within one to seven days of filling a prior prescription for the same class of drug (opioids, benzodiazepines, and muscle relaxants) that had at least a seven-day supply
RESULTS: We identified nine cases of overdose death in 2011 that filled multiple prescriptions within seven days for a drug that was involved in their death. There were 77 such cases in 2006-2011. For more than half of these 77 individuals, the last instance of filling multiple prescriptions within seven days was within 5 days of their death (n=42, 51%). In 2011 this was true of five of the nine cases (55%).
CONCLUSIONS: Directing pharmacies to report filled prescriptions within one day instead of seven days would allow for the identification of at-risk individuals in a more timely fashion. This may contribute to a reduction in the number of New Mexicans who overdose from prescription drugs.