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Prescription drug monitoring program policy reform: human and veterinary practitioner prescribing in West Virginia, 2008–2020

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Abstract

No study has examined Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) data for West Virginia or among specialty practices, such as veterinary medicine. The objectives of this study were to conduct time series modeling to describe the PDMP policy reform impact on prescribing rates for human and veterinary providers. We obtained data from the WV PDMP for 2008 through 2020 for the number of opioid prescriptions filled and providers. We estimated prescribing rates for human and veterinary providers separately based upon the top five opioids prescribed by veterinarians. We estimated temporal effects using a Bayesian log-normal time series model for humans and veterinarians separately. Throughout the study period prescribing rates increased significantly for veterinarians, and decreased for human providers, particularly during 2018 after implementation of the Opioid Reduction Act. Findings provide novel insight into the differential impact of policy on specialty practices and highlight decreasing human opioid prescribing observed elsewhere.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy. This work was supported through National Institute of General Medical Sciences, 2U54GM104942-02, and National Institute of Drug Abuse (R21DA040187 and UG3DA044825). The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, West Virginia University, 64 Medical Center Dr., Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA

    Brian Hendricks, Toni Rudisill, Jeffrey Pesarsick & Gordon Stephen Smith

  2. Department of Biostatistics, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA

    Sijin Wen

  3. West Virginia Board of Pharmacy, Charleston, WV, 25301, USA

    Timothy Dotson & Nathan Wood

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  1. Brian Hendricks
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  2. Toni Rudisill
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Correspondence to Brian Hendricks.

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Hendricks, B., Rudisill, T., Pesarsick, J. et al. Prescription drug monitoring program policy reform: human and veterinary practitioner prescribing in West Virginia, 2008–2020. J Public Health Pol 42, 249–257 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41271-021-00275-0

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