Prescriber Report provide prescribers insight into their controlled substance prescribing patterns. Reports are provided quarterly, to include a 6-month look back period for data, to all registered PMP users who have an active account with a defined role and specialty and who have written at least one opioid, sedative, or stimulant prescription during the prior 6-month period.
The data represented in Prescriber Reports include Schedule II-IV drugs as reported to the PDMP by the dispensers and pharmacies during the reporting period listed.
| Disclaimer: Comparisons with peer groups are meant to give prescribers a point of reference. The PDMP recognizes that no two practice settings are identical. Additionally, the Prescriber Report is not intended to be an indication that the prescriber or their patients have taken inappropriate actions. |
Prescriber Report Components
Report Header
The Specialty field represents the Healthcare Specialty as chosen by the user upon registration with the PDMP.
| If a specialty has been misrepresented or needs to be updated, the user may update it within their PMP AWARxE account. To update a specialty, login to PMP AWARxE and navigate to Menu > My Profile. Please refer to the Updating Account Information help article for additional information on updating a user's specialty. Any changes made to a specialty will be reflected in the next distribution of the Prescriber Report. |
The “quarter” dropdown menu allows you to view up to the last 4 quarterly reports, if one was generated for the previous quarters.
Peer Groups
Most metrics include comparisons to median values of a user's prescriber peer groups. Only those prescribers with an active account and a defined specialty who have written at least one opioid, sedative, or stimulant prescription during the prior 6-month period are included in the comparisons. These peer groups may differ slightly from peer groups designated by the PDMP for other projects.
Peer Specialty Comparison
This is the same Healthcare Specialty as the prescriber. For example, comparison with all other roles (physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, etc.) practicing in a Family Medicine Office. Throughout the Prescriber Report, the blue bar chart represents your prescribing activity, while the peer specialty comparison is displayed as the pink line.
The specialty, as selected by the prescriber at the time of registration, is used for this comparison. If the number of peers in Specialty Level 3 is too small for a statistically valid comparison, Specialty Level 2 is used. If Specialty Level 2 is too small for a statistically valid comparison, Specialty Level 1 is used.
Top Medications Prescribed
This metric represents the top three drugs prescribed (listed by generic name) based on the number of prescriptions prescribed by the user and reported to the PDMP during the 6-month reporting period.
Opioids
*This section excludes drugs containing buprenorphine
Prescriptions per Patient: The average number of opioid prescriptions dispensed per patient during each month.
Daily MME per Patient: The average daily MME for opioids dispensed per patient during each month. Daily MME is the total MME divided by days supplied for each dispensation.
Average Quantity per Patient: The average quantity of opioid doses dispensed per patient during each month.
Average Duration per Patient: The average days supplied of opioids dispensed per patient during each month. The days’ supply in the reporting period is not necessarily consecutive (e.g., two 5- day opioid prescriptions written two weeks apart would count as 10 days).
# of Patients: Distinct count of patients prescribed opioids by physician during the 6-month reporting period.
# of Patients Peer: Average Distinct count of patients prescribed opioids per physician, within peer specialty comparison, during the 6-month reporting period.
Morphine Milligram Equivalent (MME)
MME is the amount of morphine an opioid dose is equivalent to when prescribed. Buprenorphine is excluded from MME calculations in this report. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that prescribers should reassess evidence of the benefits and risks to the patient when increasing dosage to ≥ 50 MME/day (e.g., ≥ 50 mg hydrocodone; ≥ 33 mg oxycodone) and avoid increasing to ≥ 90 MME/day (≥ 90 mg hydrocodone; ≥ 60 mg oxycodone) when possible due to an increased risk of complications.
The CDC’s Opioid Guideline Mobile App summarizes key recommendations on opioid prescribing and includes an MME calculator: https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/prescribing/app.html
Buprenorphine
*This section includes only drugs containing buprenorphine
Prescriptions per Patient: The average number of buprenorphine prescriptions dispensed per patient during each month.
Average Quantity per Patient: The average quantity of buprenorphine doses dispensed per patient during each month.
Average Duration per Patient: The average days supplied of buprenorphine dispensed per patient during each month. The days’ supply in the reporting period is not necessarily consecutive (e.g., two 5-day opioid prescriptions written two weeks apart would count as 10 days).
# of Patients: Distinct count of patients prescribed buprenorphine by physician during the 6- month reporting period.
# of Patients Peer: Average Distinct count of patients prescribed buprenorphine per physician, within peer specialty comparison, during the 6-month reporting period.
Sedatives
*This section includes all Anxiolytic/Hypnotic dispensations, including benzodiazepines
Prescriptions per Patient: The average number of sedative prescriptions dispensed per patient during each month.
Average Quantity per Patient: The average quantity of sedatives dispensed per patient during each month.
Average Duration per Patient: The average days supplied of sedatives dispensed per patient during each month. The days’ supply in the reporting period is not necessarily consecutive (e.g., two 5- day opioid prescriptions written two weeks apart would count as 10 days).
# of Patients: Distinct count of patients prescribed sedatives by physician during the 6-month reporting period.
# of Patients Peer: Average Distinct count of patients prescribed sedatives per physician, within peer specialty comparison, during the 6-month reporting period.
Stimulants
Prescriptions per Patient: The average number of stimulant prescriptions dispensed per patient during each month.
Average Quantity per Patient: The average quantity of stimulants dispensed per patient during each month.
Average Duration per Patient: The average days supplied of stimulants dispensed per patient during each month. The days’ supply in the reporting period is not necessarily consecutive (e.g., two 5- day opioid prescriptions written two weeks apart would count as 10 days).
# of Patients: Distinct count of patients prescribed stimulants by physician during the 6-month reporting period.
# of Patients Peer: Average Distinct count of patients prescribed stimulants per physician, within peer specialty comparison, during the 6-month reporting period.
At Risk Patients
Dangerous Combination Therapy
This metric represents the number of patients in the 6-month reporting period receiving a prescription for both an opioid and a benzodiazepine (or an opioid, benzodiazepine, and carisoprodol) for an overlapping period within the reporting period. The metric “You” represents cases in which the user wrote prescriptions for each of the drugs for the same patient. The metric “You + Other Prescribers” represents cases in which the user wrote at least one of the prescriptions (this metric is inclusive of the “You” metric).
| According to the CDC, concurrent benzodiazepine, opioid, and/or carisoprodol prescriptions should be avoided, given the high risk of adverse drug interactions, specifically respiratory depression, and death. |
Patients Exceeding Multiple Provider Thresholds
This metric represents the number of patients who received controlled substance prescriptions from 5 or more prescribers/pharmacies, including the user, within the 6-month reporting period.
Patient Exceeding Daily MME Thresholds
This metric represents the number of patients who received a daily MME value of ≥ 90 or ≥ 120 for dispensations prescribed by the user during the 6-month reporting period. These thresholds are national standards and differ from the local PDMP requirement to use an exemption code for prescriptions exceeding 100 MME.
PMP Usage
This metric represents the total number of PDMP Patient Report requests made within the reporting period by a user and/or their delegates.
| This number does not indicate whether the Patient Report request correlated to a prescription a user wrote to be in compliance with the "Check the PMP" law. For that information, navigate to Menu > Data > Mandatory Use or refer to the Mandatory Use Module help article. |
How Do I Download a Copy of My Prescriber Report?
From the Prescriber Report dashboard, click the download icon found in the top section of the Prescriber Report. You can access image download (.png file) of the top-level dashboard in a separate window. An interactive Prescriber Report with identifiable prescriber/patient/dispenser details is not available for download.
Prescriber Report Interactivity
Most of the Prescriber Report is now interactive and will provide additional detail if hovered over or clicked on. Hovering over any of the bar or line graph data points will provide additional information about the metric a user is viewing.
Clicking on one of the graphs will open a screen displaying the details of each prescription that contributed to the metric being clicked on. For example, clicking any metric in the Opioids section of the Prescriber Report will display the details of the opioid prescriptions that a user wrote for the reporting period, including the patient’s details.
| User the filters at the top of the new screen to view prescriptions by date filled, drug units, (each, gm, mL) or MME threshold. |
Similar displays are available by clicking the metrics in the Buprenorphine, Sedatives, and Stimulants sections of the Prescriber Report.
There are also additional details available for the At Risk Patients section of the report. Clicking on the “Dangerous Combination Therapy” metric will display a list of all patients that are concurrently prescribed opioids, benzodiazepines, and/or carisoprodol. Use the “You” filter at the top to see cases in which a user wrote prescriptions for each of the drugs for the same patient. Use the “You + Other Prescribers” filter to see cases in which a user wrote at least one of the prescriptions (this metric is inclusive of the “You” metric).
From the list of patients, click on the patient’s name to see the full prescription detail for any concurrently prescribed opioids, benzodiazepines, and/or carisoprodol.
Similar displays of patient and prescription details are available by clicking the Multiple Providers and MME Thresholds metrics.
Troubleshooting Prescriber Reports
Why is My Prescriber Report Blank?
If you do not have a Prescriber Report for a given quarter, a message will display over a blank dashboard indicating, “No Data for this quarter.”
How Can I Look Up My Prescribing History?
You may further review your PDMP prescription details by navigating to MyRx. MyRx allows users to search for prescriptions that have been written by them, that have been dispensed to the patient, and reported to the PDMP. For additional information on MyRx and its components, please refer to Rx Management & Rx Maintenance of this help center.
How Can I Learn More About Safer Opioid Prescribing and Tapering?
Please refer to CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain.
Does Every Prescriber Have a Prescriber Report Available?
Only prescribers that have a specialty and have written at least one controlled substance prescription during the prior six-month period will have a Prescriber Report.
Additionally, if a user adds a specialty after a report was ran (e.g., 2 weeks), they will not have a Prescriber Report available as they will not have met the criteria needed for a Prescriber Report.
What are Some of the Limitations to a Prescriber Report?
Specialties with small numbers can have more variance in averages. In certain conditions, the peer comparisons will change to a larger group.
My DEA Number is Incorrect. How Can I Fix This?
You can validate or update your DEA number by visiting the DEA website: https://apps.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/webforms/jsp/regapps/common/updateLogin.jsp