State Sen. Erin Houchin (R-Salem) joined Gov. Eric Holcomb and the Indiana Commission to Combat Drug Abuse Thursday, Aug. 24, to announce the statewide integration of Indiana’s prescription drug monitoring program, INSPECT, into electronic health records.
The integration of INSPECT will enable prescribers to quickly and efficiently search a patient’s previous prescription history at no cost to the facility or individual practitioner. Indiana will be the seventh state to implement this type of program.
Senate Enrolled Act 408, authored by Houchin, urged the study of INSPECT practices and integration.
“Under the leadership of Gov. Holcomb and with the assistance of my colleagues in the General Assembly, we will ensure prescribers have the resources they need to make these searches as seamless as possible,” Houchin said.
“I hope this integration will increase searches, save lives, and cut back on the number of opioids flooding our communities, contributing to addiction, crime, and broken families. This is a powerful step in our multi-front approach to combating the drug epidemic.”
In 2016, 15.1 million prescriptions for opioids were written in Indiana, accounting for over 1 billion opioid doses distributed — an average of 160 pills for every man, woman, and child in the state.
If used properly, INSPECT can determine whether patients are “doctor hopping” for multiple prescriptions, if they are using their prescriptions at a higher rate than recommended, or if they are at risk for overdose.
