The Louisiana Board of Pharmacy has revised the rules on access to patient information maintained by the Prescription Monitoring Program (“PMP”). Historically, only persons authorized to prescribe or dispense controlled substances or drugs of concerns could access the PMP. The Board recently revised the PMP rules to now allow a “delegate” of the prescriber or dispenser access to the PMP records. A delegate is defined as a person authorized by a prescriber/dispenser who is also an authorized user to access and retrieve program data for the purpose of assisting the prescriber/dispenser and for whose actions the authorizing prescriber and dispenser retains accountability. Each delegate must register for their own account which will be linked to the supervisor’s account. The prescribers and dispensers are responsible for supervising their delegate’s activities.

The goal of the PMP is to improve the State of Louisiana’s ability to identify and inhibit the diversion of controlled substances and drugs of concern. The information maintained on the PMP is used to report suspected violations of any law to State and Federal Law Enforcement agencies as well as to assist prescribers with the treatment of their patients. All dispensers of controlled dangerous substances and drugs of concern are required to submit information to the PMP, including both prescriber and patient information. Failure to report prescription information to the PMP will result in a referral to the prescriber or dispenser’s professional licensing board for administrative sanctions.

The Louisiana Board of Pharmacy has issued a PMP Delegate Registration and Request Guide with instructions for prescribers, dispensers and their delegates on how to register for a delegate account. More information can be found at the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy website www.labp.com