New Jersey Prescription Monitoring Program Mobile App Now Available for Android Device Users
NEWARK – New Jersey had previously launched the first-in-the-nation mobile app that allows authorized users of New Jersey Prescription Monitoring Program (NJPMP) to access the database using Apple-based smartphones and handheld devices. The Division of Consumer Affairs is now announcing that a mobile app is now available for Android smartphones and handheld devices, expanding the number of mobile devices that can be used to access the NJPMP. The development of this app is another important step in the Christie Administration's commitment to prevent drug abuse and save lives in New Jersey.
The NJPMP, maintained by the Division of Consumer Affairs, collects detailed information on prescriptions filled in New Jersey for controlled dangerous substances (CDS) – the category of drugs that includes potentially addictive opiate painkillers – and Human Growth Hormone. The NJPMP provides a searchable database to state-licensed prescribers and pharmacists and aids in identifying patients who have engaged in "doctor shopping" – deceptively visiting multiple physicians to obtain more prescription drugs than any one doctor would prescribe – or in trying to illegally obtain prescription drugs through use of multiple pharmacies.
An app for Apple device users became available this past April. A Windows Mobile version of the app will be available later this year.
"New Jersey's medical professionals are playing a crucial role in battling prescription drug abuse in our state," said Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman. "The NJPMP can be an important tool to help these professionals make informed decisions about prescribing controlled dangerous substances, and now through the development of the new Android app, it is easier than ever to use."
As of August 6, 2015, approximately 89% of the state's 29,400 licensed doctors had registered to use the NJPMP database. About 190,000 user requests were submitted to the NJPMP during the preceding 30-day period.
"We want every licensee who is eligible to use the NJPMP to use it to prevent drug abuse and diversion," said Steve Lee, Acting Director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. "This mobile app is yet another way that the NJPMP is becoming more accessible and user-friendly."
The app is available here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=optimum.pmp.android&hl=en .
To encourage use of the NJPMP database, the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs revised the NJPMP enrollment process after the program launched, granting automatic enrollment to all New Jersey doctors who successfully applied for the renewal of their State-granted authority to prescribe CDS. The Division also launched and has continued an outreach campaign to familiarize medical professionals with how the NJPMP can be used to aid their practices, by sending staff to hospitals to meet with doctors and explain the NJPMP program.
In 2014, the Division expanded the NJPMP to include direct data-sharing with the prescription monitoring programs maintained by Connecticut and Delaware, and began efforts to build a similar data-sharing partnership with New York State.
For more information on the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs' initiative to halt the diversion and abuse of prescription drugs, view the Division's NJPMP website at
www.NJConsumerAffairs.gov/pmp, and the Division's Project Medicine Drop website at
www.NJConsumerAffairs.gov/meddrop.
Follow the Division of Consumer Affairs on
Facebook , and check our online calendar of upcoming
Consumer Outreach events.
###
