Working Paper: NBER ID: w23148
Authors: Thomas C. Buchmueller; Colleen Carey
Abstract: The misuse of prescription opioids has become a serious epidemic in the US. In response, states have implemented Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs), which record a patient's opioid prescribing history. While few providers participated in early systems, states have recently begun to require providers to access the PDMP under certain circumstances. We find that "must access" PDMPs significantly reduce measures of misuse in Medicare Part D. In contrast, we find that PDMPs without such provisions have no effect. We find stronger effects when providers are required to access the PDMP under broad circumstances, not only when they are suspicious.
Keywords: Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs; Opioid Utilization; Medicare
JEL Codes: I12; I18
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| PDMPs with must-access provision (Y20) | opioid misuse measures (I12) |
| must-access PDMPs (I11) | share of Part D enrollees taking opioids (G52) |
| must-access PDMPs (I11) | obtaining more than seven months' supply of opioids (Q31) |
| PDMPs without must-access provision (C69) | opioid misuse measures (I12) |
| must-access PDMPs (I11) | opioid poisoning incidents (L65) |
| broader laws (K30) | stronger impacts on opioid misuse (I12) |