Federal Officials Wary of Budget Cuts to Calif. Rx Drug Monitoring System
Federal officials have expressed concern that recent budget cuts could compromise California's prescription drug monitoring database, KQED's "The California Report" reports (Varney, "The California Report," KQED, 2/14).
Background
The state Department of Justice's Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement operates the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System, or CURES. The database tracks patients' prescription drug history in an effort to curb illegal sales and misuse of prescription medication.
CURES was established in 2009, and more than 8,000 physicians and pharmacists have signed up to use it. The database contains information on more than 100 million prescriptions for controlled substances.
Funding Challenges
The state Department of Justice faces $70 million in budget cuts (California Healthline, 11/28/11). As a result, CURES now depends solely on year-to-year grants.
To cut costs, state officials reduced the staff in charge of managing the database to one person. Mike Small, program manager for the Law Enforcement Support Program, is the sole individual responsible for operating the database.
Small said the future of the system is in question without a permanent source of funding.
Federal Officials Recognize Issue
Mary McElderry -- assistant special agent in charge at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency's Los Angeles Field Division -- said her agency is assessing CURES' fiscal challenges.
She said that of the 37 states operating similar systems, "California is unfortunately probably the only right now that's in danger of losing their drug monitoring system, which would be devastating to us" ("The California Report," KQED, 2/14).
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