Pubdate: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 Source: Charleston Daily Mail (WV) Copyright: 2005 Charleston Daily Mail Contact: http://www.dailymail.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/76 AGENCY TARGETS 'DOCTOR SHOPPERS' Through its data collection program, the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy has been helping identify and prevent "doctor shoppers" -- patients who go to multiple doctors to get the same drug due to addiction or to sell it. "We have had patients who have seen 17 different doctors and have filled prescriptions in 40 different pharmacies," said William T. Douglass Jr., the board's executive director and general counsel. "This system is trying to stop those kinds of things." Douglass added the system is not meant to prevent cancer victims or patients with chronic pain from getting medicine. The pharmacy board program, which began in December 2002, collects information about who prescribes, who sells and who buys controlled pharmaceuticals throughout the state, as well as how customers pay for the drugs. "This is a tool that has been used to prevent drug abuse and diversion from legitimate uses. They have it in about 20 states now," Douglass said. Douglass said the program is designed to monitor the use of federally and state-controlled substances, not antibiotics, blood pressure or arthritis medicines. "It is a red flag when a person comes in with $1,000 in cash to pay for a prescription, especially for pain killers or addictive substances," he said. The board has been getting information from a company called Atlantic Associates, which has collected data directly from pharmacists and drugstores. But at the end of the month, the board will start using its own new computer program to collect information from pharmacists. "It is a new reporting procedure which is easier for everyone," Douglass said. "We are eliminating the outside vendor." Access to database information is limited to individuals allowed to look at it under state law, such as treating pharmacists and physicians, agents from state boards that license pharmacists and physicians, and certain members of the State Police. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom