93.9 The Eagle – The News and Talk of Columbia, MO
A veteran southeast Missouri lawmaker who’s running for lieutenant governor says more than 70 percent of Missourians favor a prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP).
Governor Mike Parson signed State Sen. Holly Rehder’s (R-Scott City) bipartisan PDMP bill in 2021. The no votes came from Republican lawmakers. Senator Rehder knows legislative opponents had privacy concerns.
“If you go get your prescriptions filled at Walmart or Walgreens you’re in a national database, right. So this is nothing different than an electronic medical record,” Rehder says.
A PDMP is an electronic database that collects data on controlled substance prescriptions within a state. Missouri is now the 50th and final state to have PDMP. Rehder tells 939 the Eagle’s “Wake Up Mid-Missouri” that PDMP is just now getting rolled out statewide, due to the vendor process.
She says PDMP will help battle the opioid epidemic. Senator Rehder also says Missouri’s pharmacists and doctors need it to be able to see what their patients’ medication history is.
“Our families suffering in the opioid epidemic have been asking for this. Why can my sister go to multiple places, multiple doctors, and they don’t know that they’re all prescribing her the same medication,” says Rehder.
Passage of PDMP was a top priority for the powerful Missouri Farm Bureau, which is the state’s largest general farm organization. Legislative opponents worry about privacy issues. You can hear the full interview with Senator Rehder here.
