NY Attorney General Wants New Tool To Fight Prescription Drug Addiction
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Authorities said David Laffer, who is serving a life sentence for killing four people at a Long Island pharmacy, received more than 10,000 pills from dozens of doctors.
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Now, state attorney general Eric Schneiderman said he wants the legislature to approve the I-STOP program. I-STOP is short for Internet System for Tracking Overprescribing.
The way it works is when a person walks into a doctors office complaining of pain, before a prescription is written out, the doctor, using the I-STOP computer program, can check to see if that person has been prescribed an painkiller - like Oxycodone or Hydrocodone - recently from another physician indicating this person could be addicted.
All of this would work in real time.
"This database will help doctors make sure a patient actually needs the medication, and isn't simply seeking to feed an addiction," said Schneiderman on Tuesday.
He said the system would be part of the HIPPA law, which would ensure privacy.
A database, run by the New York State Health Department, does currently exist for prescription drugs. However, because the system is voluntary, only a fraction of doctors use it. Pharmacists are not allowed to access the current database, which is not updated in real time.
The legislation favored by the attorney general would report and track certain controlled substances in real time to prevent doctor shopping and would require doctors and pharmacists to check the database, 1010 WINS' Mona Rivera reported.
What do you think of I-STOP? Sound off in the comments section below!
