Nova Scotia misses another deadline to fix prescription monitoring program
From globalnews.ca
After promising fixes in 2014 and 2016, the Nova Scotia government now says much needed changes to the prescription drug monitoring program will come in 2017.
The prescription monitoring program is meant to track the prescriptions for dangerous drugs like oxycodone and hydromorphone, in order to prevent potential misuse or abuse. However, a May 2012 auditor general report said the program has “considerable weaknesses.”
Following questions from Global News, the health department said it missed its latest deadline to have all 17 recommended changes in place by June 2016. The new deadline is March 2017, according to spokesperson Tony Kiritsis.
Health Minister Leo Glavine said a new drug information system will be in place by the end of September. Once the system is in place, the government said the data collected from it will determine how to implement recommendations from the auditor general.
“It’s a tracking system that is way more robust than what we had in the past,” Glavine said.
Two successive auditor generals have called for changes to the prescription monitoring program.
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