Kentucky and Ohio are now exchanging prescription data, but system needs more use by health-care providers and police

Kentucky and Ohio are now automatically exchanging data on prescription drugs, with a new electronic network called the Prescription Monitoring Information Exchange. PMIX links the Kentucky All- Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting (KASPER) system and the Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System (OARRS). Now perhaps all we need is a Big Old Automatic Terminal (BOAT) so Kasper can row it with the Ohio oars.

Kidding aside, "The announcement marks a highly anticipated milestone for prescription drug monitoring programs and ongoing work to fulfill a need to share data across state lines," Gov. Steve Beshear's office said in a press release. "Kentucky’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services oversees KASPER, which is considered a national model for prescription drug monitoring." The Ohio-Kentucky linkup is federally funded.

Authorized users in the two states can securely access prescription monitoring data from both systems. "A physician in Kentucky will be able to request a KASPER patient report and stipulate that they need Ohio data included on the report," the release says. "Doctor shoppers often seek controlled substances from multiple providers and cover increasingly large territories to obtain the drugs."

Kentucky and several other states allow a prescriber, dispenser, or law-enforcement officer from another state to register and get their prescription data, but "Due to the effort required to establish and maintain separate accounts with each state and review multiple reports and formats, only a limited number of practitioners and law enforcement officers have done so," the release says, then quotes KASPER coordinator Dave Hopkins: “We think the PMIX pilot will facilitate efforts to share prescription drug monitoring program data among all states.”