Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Resources

How to Search and Use the Pennsylvania PDMP –
Tutorial, Guidelines, and Toolkit

The Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health has compiled the following resources to assist prescribers and dispensers of controlled substances access information necessary to help combat drug misuse. Learn more about how you can do your part to combat the opioid epidemic throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. A tutorial on how to get the most from the Pennsylvania PDMP, clinical resources toolkit, suggested prescribing guidelines, and information about how to contact your nearest Single County Authority for drug and alcohol treatment and funding are included below.

Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention Resources

Pennsylvania PDMP Tutorial: Learn how to navigate and conduct a patient query using the Pennsylvania PDMP, as well as how to identify red flags here.

Clinical Resources Toolkit: For support during the adoption of this new program, the Pennsylvania PDMP office developed a toolkit of resources to help medical professionals fully utilize the PDMP, including prescribing guidelines, screening tools, and treatment resources.

Opioid Prescribing Guidelines: In partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, the Department of Health has convened the multi-stakeholder Safe and Effective Prescribing Practices Task Force to create evidence-based opioid prescribing guidelines for prescribers and dispensers across the commonwealth

Single County Authorities (SCAs): Through contracts with the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP), SCAs are drug and alcohol service hubs that receive state and federal dollars to plan, coordinate, manage, and implement the delivery of drug and alcohol prevention, intervention, treatment, and treatment-related services (such as case management and recovery support) at the local level.

This includes a continuum of drug and alcohol treatment services. SCAs will work with providers to offer assistance to their patients who need such services. Typically, SCAs serve individuals who reside within the SCA’s geographic region, but this is not always the case.

No-Cost Continuing Medical Education

Evidence-Based Prescribing: Tools You Can Use to Fight the Opioid Epidemic
The Pennsylvania Department of Health and Quality Insights have partnered to provide live and virtual opioid education sessions at no cost to you. In an effort to empower medical professionals to identify patients struggling with substance use disorder, the PA DOH, PA Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have released a series of learning modules and tools to promote evidence-based prescribing. All educational modules meet the Medical and Osteopathic Board’s continuing medical education (CME) credit requirement of Patient Safety/Risk Management, and modules 3-7 can be used to meet the PA Act 124 of 2016 CME requirements for opioid education. Sessions also provide 1.0 nursing contact hours (PA only). Click here to register or learn more.

More continuing education programs on opioid use from Quality Insights can be accessed here.