BJA is pleased to announce that the Kentucky and Ohio Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) have officially launched the electronic Prescription Monitoring Information Exchange (PMIX). The goal of PMIX — made possible through funding from BJA’s Harold Rogers Prescription Monitoring Program — is to help states implement a cost effective technology solution to facilitate interstate data sharing between PDMPs.
The Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting (KASPER) system and the Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System (OARRS) have been the leaders in testing and now implementing PMIX in collaboration with BJA, the IJIS Institute, the Alliance of States with Prescription Monitoring Programs, and other state PDMPs. PMIX, designed and implemented with the input and participation of state PDMP administrators, is an inclusive solution that enables national interoperability while remaining entirely under the control of the state PDMPs.
PMIX has delivered the tools and standards to build the capacity for states to easily and efficiently share data across state boundaries. The specific technology used significantly reduces the cost and effort that would be required to implement a communications link with every single exchange partner state. This single link allows a state PDMP to process a request for information from one of its authorized users to additional states via a single query that is seamless to the user. Throughout the transaction, the PMIX “hub” retains no prescription or confidential data whatsoever, thus protecting each state’s ability to control access to its own data, as well as the privacy and confidentiality rights of data that resides within the PDMP systems.
State adoption of PMIX and thereby the ability to request data from another state, especially a border state, will help stop those who have taken advantage of the lack of information sharing across jurisdictional boundaries, and result in an enhanced and more effective tool for health care providers and law enforcement to prevent and detect prescription drug abuse through PDMPs. BJA is committed to fully implementing PMIX and ensuring state PDMPs receive funding, training, and technical assistance to expand interstate data sharing.
To learn more about PMIX and PDMPs and to request technical assistance, visit www.bja.gov/grant/prescripdrugs.html.