Vermont Prescription Monitoring System
- About the Vermont Prescription Monitoring System
- Meeting a Critical Need
- Advisory Committee
- Related Documents
- Contact the Prescription Monitoring Program
About the Vermont Prescription Monitoring System
Act 205, passed in 2006, authorizes the Department of Health to establish the Vermont Prescription Monitoring System (VPMS). When a Schedule II, III, or IV controlled substance is dispensed to an outpatient, the VPMS will collect a standard set of information on the patient, the prescriber, and the drug, and hold that information in a central database for six years.
Information from the database will be available to providers and pharmacists to use in the active treatment of a patient. The purpose of the database is to present a complete picture of a patient’s controlled substance use - including prescriptions by other providers - so the provider can properly manage the patient’s treatment, including the referral of a patient to services offering treatment for drug abuse or addiction when appropriate.
The data may also be used by professional licensure boards as a part of an active investigation of an individual licensed by the board. Patients may also access their own personal data.
Meeting a Critical Need
There is broad consensus within the substance abuse community as well as the System’s Advisory Committee, of the critical need for the database. In our current health care system, patients often visit multiple providers, and can receive multiple prescriptions in an uncoordinated manner.
The VPMS will give the provider a complete picture of a patient’s controlled substances prescription history. The VPMS may also alert a provider to a patient’s possible abuse of, or addiction to, controlled substances.
Recent reports at the state and national level indicate that the abuse of pharmaceutical drugs is the fastest growing area of use and addiction, and is becoming a major problem among youth and young adults. Excluding alcohol, and after marijuana, prescription drugs are the second most commonly abused substances among every age group.
Advisory Committee
Act 205 names fourteen individuals or organizations to be included in the membership of the Prescription Monitoring System’s Advisory Committee. The members include representatives of:
- Appropriate licensure boards
- Consumers
- Drug and Alcohol treatment professionals
- Emergency Department physicians
- Pharmacists
- Retail pharmacies
- Vermont Attorney General
- Vermont Dental Society
- Vermont Department of Health
- Vermont Department of Public Safety
- Vermont Medical Society
- Vermont State Nurses Association
Prescription Monitoring System Advisory Committee Membership (pdf)
Related Documents
Act 205
Additional Information
- VPMS Statutes
- Status of State Drug Legislation (NAMSDL) - 12/07
- National Prescription Monitoring Program Activities - 12/07
- Independently Owned Pharmacies in Rural America
Contact Information
If you are interested in receiving information on the VPMS on a regular basis, please contact the Program office at 802-652-4147, or via e-mail to: mzilber@vdh.state.vt.us.