Prescription drug database launches today

A long-awaited online database that tracks when, where, how much and how often prescription drugs are dispensed throughout Florida launches today.

The system, known as the Electronic Florida Online Reporting of Controlled Substances Evaluation, or E-FORCSE, enables physicians to request the prescription drug history of patients.

Pharmacists and other health professionals who prescribe narcotic-grade medication such as oxycodone and hyrdocodone have seven days after painkillers are dispensed to report the information to the database.

The online system will track the names and dosages of narcotic-grade pills, where they were filled and who wrote the prescriptions. The data can reveal if a patient is doctor-shopping, the act of visiting different physicians in a short period of time to obtain more prescriptions, said Greg Giordano, chief aide for state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey.

Fasano sponsored a Senate version of a bill calling for the creation of the database as well as strengthening regulations over the ownership and operation of pain management clinics.

“The prescription database is perhaps the single most important patient safety program to launch in recent memory,” Fasano said in a statement. “On average, the scourge of prescription drug abuse claims the lives of seven people per day. This long-awaited tool is intended to cut that number significantly.”

The database can also be used by law enforcement to help curb the illegal distribution of painkillers and identify addicts and drug dealers.

“With pill mills being shut down due to the ban on dispensing drugs from most doctors’ offices, and the launching of the database, Florida is on the road to becoming a safer and healthier state,” said state Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-New Port Richey.

The lack of a statewide database and Florida’s once-lax laws contributed to an increase in the number of so-called “pill mills,” storefront clinics that dispense massive doses of painkillers, law enforcement officials said.

State and local officials consider the Tampa Bay area and parts of South Florida as epicenters for pill mills and prescription drug abuse.

In 2010, there were 2,710 deaths in Florida caused by prescription drugs compared with 2,488 in 2009, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Oxycodone was the biggest killer, causing 1,516 deaths compared with 1,185 in 2009.

Since tougher laws were approved by Gov. Rick Scott in June, state officials have been busy trying to stem the illicit distribution of painkillers. Scott created a task force that includes the Attorney General’s Office, the FDLE and sheriffs' offices and police departments across the state to combat the problem.

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