Resources for Promoting Maine's Prescription Monitoring Program

Maine's Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) is a tool created to prevent and detect prescription drug misuse and diversion. PMP maintains a database of all transactions for controlled substances dispensed in the State of Maine. This database is available online to prescribers and dispensers. A free service of the Office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHS) in the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, the PMP database is quickly becoming a standard tool for clinicians to provide better care to their patients throughout the state.

Basic Information

Overview Brochure – January 2013 (PDF)

All of the information needed for someone to register and log in is available at www.maine.gov/pmp.

Powerpoint for promoting Maine's Prescription Monitoring Program: Using the PMP to Improve Patient Care (PPTX, --supporting HMP strategy 5.1)

Wallet Card (PDF) - Quick reference guide to the PMP that will easily fit in your wallet. Includes phone numbers and how to log in.

Registration Data

Many Healthy Maine Partnerships (HMP) have chosen to promote registration among health care providers as a tool to improve health care.  SAMHS has created a chart with total prescriber registration within each county.  This chart lists the total prescriber registration by county at given point across time.  These totals will be updated in this file on a quarterly basis. Registered prescribers by county chart (PDF).

A few words of guidance for interpreting this report

This report is provided to indicate the level of use in the given HMP service area. It is not intended to be used for comparisons between HMP service areas. The intent of this report is to give HMP's a tool for tracking their own progress over time. HMP's vary widely by size, demographics, and number of health care professionals.

Search and Rescue

Prescription drug abuse is a serious problem – one that can be difficult to identify with confidence among your patients. And yet there are a number of tools, notably your state's Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP), that can help you identify drug seeking behavior and get help for patients who may be at risk of prescription drug abuse or addiction.

The Maine Office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services encourages you to visit www.searchandrescuemaine.org, and access a prescriber education initiative called Search and Rescue, developed by the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, with support from FDA. Search and Rescue is an online hub designed to help you learn how to spot abuse, and what to do if you suspect a patient is misusing or abusing the medication you’ve prescribed. Prescribers have a critical role to play in addressing the epidemic of prescription drug abuse. We encourage you to visit and engage with www.searchandrescuemaine.org here.
For more information about the Maine Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, please visit: https://www.maine.gov/pmp

Definitions

  • Registered Requesters: the total number of health care professionals registered as data requesters in the given HMP service area
  • Dispenser: pharmacist data requesters
  • Prescriber: Dentist, Medical Doctor, Nurse Practitioner, Nurse Midwife, Osteopathic Doctor, Physician Assistant, and Podiatrist data requesters
  • Active Requesters: the number of requesters in each category who actually requested patient history reports during the time period specified at the top of the report
  • # of Reports: the count of reports requested by the active users in the given category during the specified time period
  • Rx Count: the number of prescriptions that appeared on the reports in the previous column
  • Other-ME: for requesters who are not in towns covered by HMP service areas
  • Other-Non-ME: for requesters who live outside of Maine

Any Questions?

If you have any questions regarding the PMP or prescription drug abuse generally, you may contact the Office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services at 207-287-2595 or samhs.irc@maine.gov.

Further Information

Prescription Monitoring Program home page

Treatment Resources ("Find Help")

Information and Resource Center

*Documents in PDF format require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view them. Printouts of any of the documents linked on this page are also available upon request.