Beginning March 1, 2020, all prescribers must set up an account with the Texas Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP), known as PMP Aware, and check the PMP prior to prescribing opioids, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, or carisoprodol.
An account allows physicians to check a patient’s prescription history for information that indicates illicit activity, drug abuse, drug diversion, or doctor shopping.
To make this new requirement easier on physicians, the Texas Medical Association pushed state lawmakers this year for a special appropriation to the Texas Board of Pharmacy for funds to allow Appriss Health, the state’s PMP vendor, to integrate with electronic health record (EHR) systems and health information exchanges (HIEs). This integration allows physicians to access PMP data within their EHR when creating a prescription – at no cost to the physician.
Additionally, this funding gives physicians access to Appriss’ upgraded software, NarxCare, an analytics tool and care management platform that automatically analyzes PMP data and a patient’s health history to provide a patient risk score and an interactive visualization of usage patterns to help identify patient-specific risk factors.
But not all EHRs are integrated yet. View the list of EHR vendors that are integrated with NarxCare and the PMP database. If your EHR is not listed, contact Appriss by filling out the EHR Integration Request Form. If your EHR is listed, and you did set up a PMP Aware account, but you don’t see the NarxCare integration when you create a prescription, contact your EHR vendor.
For more information about the PMP, view the new TMA webinar, Texas PMP Requirements: Who, What, When, and How, which is free to members thanks to a generous sponsorship from the TMA Insurance Trust. The course covers the new statutory PMP requirements and TMA’s prescription advocacy during the 2019 legislative session, how to use the state-designated PMP platform, and how to determine a patient’s overdose risk.
If you have questions or comments about the PMP or e-prescribing, contact the HIT Helpline at (800) 880-5720 or via email. Get in touch, even if it’s just to let us know that the PMP integration is working well.