The difficulty of using prescription drug monitoring program among office-based physicians in the USA: A challenge to mitigate controlled substance prescriptions

Objectives: To address the usability challenge of Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) among office-based physicians in the USA imposed by the difficulty barrier for the system usage, we sought: (1) to estimate the association between the PDMP difficulty of use and reducing or eliminating controlled substance prescriptions; and (2) to test the mediating effect of the frequency of PDMP check in the association between the PDMP difficulty of use and the reduction of controlled substance prescriptions. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study using nationally representative data from the 2019 National Electronic Health Records Survey with a weighted sample of 214 889 office-based physicians. Weighted bivariate chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regressions with a confidence interval of 95% were performed. Bootstrap technique was used to conduct the causal mediation analysis. Key findings: A PDMP that is easier to use was significantly associated with a higher reduction or elimination of controlled substance prescriptions (OR = 1.68; 95% CI: 1.01, 2.77). Easier PDMP use was also significantly associated with more frequent PDMP check prior to prescribing a controlled substance to a patient for the first time (OR = 6.39; 95% CI: 3.36, 12.15). About third (29.79%) of the observed association between PDMP difficulty of use and reducing or eliminating controlled substance prescriptions was mediated through the frequency of PDMP check. Conclusion: The difficulty of PDMP limits the system's usability which undermines the process of mitigating controlled substance prescriptions. Future efforts are needed to re-assess and regulate facilitators for difficult PDMP usage to maximise the success of this system and reach the goals behind its implementation.