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Publications
  • August 2020
  • Article
  • American Journal of Public Health

A History of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs in the United States: Political Appeal and Public Health Efficacy

By: A Jay Holmgren, Alyssa Botelho and Allan M Brandt
  • Format:Print
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Abstract

Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) have become a widely embraced policy to address the US opioid crisis. Despite mixed scientific evidence on their effectiveness at improving health and reducing overdose deaths, 49 states and Washington, DC have adopted PDMPs, and they have received strong bipartisan legislative support. This article explores the history of PDMPs, tracking their evolution from paper-based administrative databases in the early 1900s to modern-day electronic systems that intervene at the point of care. We focus on two questions: how did PDMPs become so widely adopted in the United States, and how did they gain popularity as an intervention in the contemporary opioid crisis? Through this historical approach, we evaluate what PDMPs reflect about national drug policy and broader cultural understandings of substance use disorder in the United States today.

Keywords

Health Disorders; Information Technology; Programs; Technology Adoption; History; Government and Politics; Policy; United States

Citation

Holmgren, A Jay, Alyssa Botelho, and Allan M Brandt. "A History of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs in the United States: Political Appeal and Public Health Efficacy." American Journal of Public Health 110, no. 8 (August 2020).
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More from the Authors

    • March 2022
    • Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association

    Assessing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Clinician Ambulatory Electronic Health Record Use

    By: A Jay Holmgren, Lance Downing, Mitchell Tang, Christopher Sharp, Christopher Longhurst and Robert S. Huckman
    • February 2021
    • JAMA Internal Medicine

    Assessment of Electronic Health Record Use Between U.S. and Non-U.S. Health Systems

    By: A Jay Holmgren, Lance Downing, David W. Bates, Tait D. Shanafelt, Arnold Milstein, Christopher Sharp, David Cutler, Robert S. Huckman and Kevin A. Schulman
    • November 2020
    • Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association

    Barriers to Hospital Electronic Public Health Reporting and Implications for the COVID-19 Pandemic

    By: A Jay Holmgren, Nate Apathy and Julia Adler-Milstein
More from the Authors
  • Assessing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Clinician Ambulatory Electronic Health Record Use By: A Jay Holmgren, Lance Downing, Mitchell Tang, Christopher Sharp, Christopher Longhurst and Robert S. Huckman
  • Assessment of Electronic Health Record Use Between U.S. and Non-U.S. Health Systems By: A Jay Holmgren, Lance Downing, David W. Bates, Tait D. Shanafelt, Arnold Milstein, Christopher Sharp, David Cutler, Robert S. Huckman and Kevin A. Schulman
  • Barriers to Hospital Electronic Public Health Reporting and Implications for the COVID-19 Pandemic By: A Jay Holmgren, Nate Apathy and Julia Adler-Milstein
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