Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Reminder Emails, Program Use, and Prescribing

Can reminder emails to clinicians increase Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) use and encourage safer prescribing of opioids and other controlled substances?In this randomized clinical trial including 7872 clinicians, reminder emails significantly raised PDMP engagement, including account creation, database searches, and searches for patients with a history of risky prescribing. The effects persisted for at least 7 months and were approximately twice as large for emails that focused on the legal requirements mandating use of the PDMP rather than on its clinical benefits; prescribing quality and volume remained unchanged.Email communications provide a low-cost, scalable approach to quickly increase PDMP use and assist clinicians seeking to prescribe medications safely, but the impact of reminder emails may not translate into large-scale changes in prescribing practices.

Corresponding Author: Adam Sacarny, PhD, Department of Health Policy and Management, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 W 168 St, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10032 (ajs2102@columbia.edu).

Link to the article in your story

We encourage you to link out to this article in your story using the link below. It includes an access token that will give free access to the article for your readers up to one year after publication. (The link will be live after the article publishes and embargo is lifted.)

Please see the article for additional information, including full author list, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

Need more information? Contact us.