MONROE — More than 45 community leaders in public health, health care, law enforcement, community outreach and faith organizations met at Monroe Clinic Aug. 22 to learn more about the Department of Safety and Professional Services Prescription Drug Monitoring Program.

DSPS Secretary Laura Gutierrez kicked off the meeting with a call for collaboration among community stakeholders in Green County and throughout the state to effectively combat the opioid drug issue. 

An overview of the electronic PDMP tool was provided by Andrea Magermans, the DSPS program and policy analyst. The database allows health care providers to see a patient’s prescription history as well as determine how many prescriptions the patient is accessing—allowing doctors to better discern when need turns into abuse. 

Law enforcement can enter drug abuse incidents and issues to give a more complete picture.  

While the patient information is protected and follows the strictest patient information security regulations, Magermans shared that between the implementation in 2015 through 2017 the state has recorded a 14 percent reduction in dispensed drugs.  

Chelsea Hardacre, Monroe Clinic’s Director of Quality Assurance and co-chair of Monroe Clinic’s drug prescription protocol committee, also attended the event. 

For more information about Monroe Clinic and Green County’s Community Health Plan visit monroeclinic.org/communityhealthplan.