August 27, 2007

Today, Governor Blagojevich signed the law which will expand the state's monitoring of highly habit-forming prescription drugs. The legislation unanimously passed both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly last May.

This new law, again, reasserts Illinois as a leader in the effort to stem the misuse of prescription medications. The expansion and the seven day reporting cycle will now conform to the 2005 federal guidelines (the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act). The expansion will also specifically comply with the federal HIPAA law (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).

Until now, only medications such as Ritalin, Adderall, Oxycontin and Tylox were among those reported to the Illinois Department of Human Services' Bureau of Pharmacy. The new law will require the reporting of dispensed prescriptions, such as Vicodin, Tylenol #3, Valium and Xanax. Many of the medications not previously monitored contained the same active chemical as those which were monitored. The expanded pharmacy reporting will assist law enforcement in its effort to manage illegal activity, and the reporting will provide assistance to the medical community in its effort to manage the addiction behavior of patients.

In the legal arena for example, an individual might misuse, a prescriber might improperly prescribe or a dispenser might inappropriately dispense these highly habit-forming medications. When a law enforcement agent independently finds a "probable cause" to suspect that one of these misuses occurred, the officer may write the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program (ILPMP) requesting information concerning the "Controlled Substances" related to the specific investigation.

In order to safeguard the privacy and constitutional rights of individuals, the legal authorities are not allowed to conduct general searches and are not allowed direct access to the records. Also, in order to preclude the potential malfeasance on the part of law enforcement, a request must be in writing and records retention is a maximum of two years.

This legislation also includes the establishment of a medical internet site which will assist prescribers and dispensers as they try to interdict a patient before the individual spirals into a confrontation with the legal system. It is considered a financial benefit to the state of Illinois when the health system manages an individual's deviant behavior rather than when the legal system must manage this behavior.

Historically, Illinois was foremost among states as the need to manage misuse of habit-forming medications. In 1984 the state initiated prescription drug monitoring but limited the scope to only the 300 most prevalent brands.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration registers thousands of different medications as "highly" habit forming and classifies each into one of five prescription drug "Schedules". Illinois will now monitor all of these controlled prescription medication "Schedules" except the "Schedule I" drugs which are experimental and are not dispensed.

This legislation also makes "controlled" drug, prescription medication, information available to some 2,000 pharmacies, 53,000 doctors and 400 hospitals via a highly secure, internet website. Use of the website is voluntary and will not expose a practitioner to liability. The intention is to assist the medical professional as he or she treats individual patients.

Practitioners in hospital emergency rooms may need to know if unconscious patients are taking any of these medication prior to treatment. Another practitioner may wish to review the individual's medical information if there is a concern that the person is seeking medications from more than one practitioner. Access to this patient information requires each, medical professional to submit their federal and state license information for verification prior to admission to this privileged information. The aim is to assist the medical community in the effective and prompt treatment of individuals seeking improved medical care in Illinois.

Funding for the expansion is assured through 2011 through federal grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. Continuation of the expansion portion of the monitoring program is contingent upon further federal funding. The original monitoring of "Schedule II" medications will continue through state funding.

In calendar year 2006 some 2,126,250 "Schedule II" prescriptions were dispensed by retail pharmacies doing business in Illinois. With the expanded prescription monitoring it is estimated that these pharmacies will report an additional fifty million prescriptions annually.