VA Records Absent from Drug Monitoring Program
Up until Jan. 16, VA hospitals and clinics were not participating in the Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System, which securely tracks a patient's controlled-drug prescription history. Now, VA medical staff can check OARRS if they suspect a patient of doctor shopping, but staffs cannot input any prescriptions that they write or fill, said the database's administrator, Danna Droz.
In other words, VA doctors and pharmacists in Ohio have a complete picture of a patient's controlled-drug prescription history at their fingertips. But for the vast majority of doctors in the private system, one source -- what, if anything, was done at the VA -- will be blacked out.
That means veterans and eligible family members could game the private system for prescriptions they already had filled at the VA. The movement of prescription painkillers from legitimate origins, such as a doctor's office or hospital, to illegal sales helps fuel what state officials have called an epidemic of unintentional drug overdoses...
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