Governor’s Rx drug abuse program

Friday, November 01, 2013 12:22 PM

CMS applauds launch of Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention

Kate Alfano, CMS contributing writer

On Sept. 24, Colorado took another step forward in its effort to reduce the abuse and misuse of prescription drugs with the launch of the new Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention. The consortium serves as the lead for Gov. John Hickenlooper’s Colorado Plan to Reduce Prescription Drug Abuse with active participation from his administration and various state agencies. 

Coordinated through the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the consortium provides a cooperative, interagency-interuniversity network to enable the health care community, state agencies and others to work together to implement a one-year strategic plan that targets six areas of the prescription drug abuse issue – the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP), treatment, prescriber and provider education, safe disposal, public awareness, and data/analysis. The consortium has assigned a workgroup to each focus area and each group is co-chaired by a representative from a state agency or community group and a university representative. 

The Colorado Plan to Reduce Prescription Drug Abuse is the culmination of the yearlong National Governors Association policy academy to reduce prescription drug abuse, co-chaired by Hickenlooper and Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley. Additionally, Colorado State Attorney General John Suthers has pledged resources to fund the public awareness component of this comprehensive approach to reduce drug abuse.

Robert Valuck, PhD, RPh, FNAP, professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy, described the “massive collective effort” required to develop the plan at the consortium launch.

Over the course of the past year, stakeholders gathered for four major events. First was the NGA Policy Academy in October 2012 where experts discussed five NGA-recommended focus areas and best practices for reducing prescription drug abuse. Next were the Colorado Roundtables in March 2013, which brought together 185 experts to expound upon the five focus areas; they identified and added the sixth area, treatment. Third was the Colorado In-State Policy Academy in April 2013, to review the recommendations and establish a timeline through May 2014. And, finally was the second NGA Policy Academy in May 2013 to review and finalize the Colorado strategic plan.

“As part of this process, the governor learned what a big problem we have here in Colorado and what broad support from diverse stakeholders we have for an approach that is comprehensive and effective to solve it,” said Kelly Perez, the governor’s human services policy advisor. “We are leaders in the nation according to the National Governors Association due to our diverse stakeholder membership and the process that we have maintained. … We are grateful and eager to see what we can continue to do together to solve this problem the Colorado way.”

“We applaud the governor’s plan to reduce prescription drug abuse in Colorado and look forward to working with all stakeholders to achieve the plan’s goals,” said CMS President John Bender, MD, FAAFP.

Recent data show that Colorado ranks second among all states for nonmedical use of prescription drugs among youth and young adults. More than 255,000 Coloradans misuse prescription drugs, and deaths involving the use of opioids nearly quadrupled between 2000 and 2011. In the State of Health: Colorado’s Commitment to Become the Healthiest State, released in April, Hickenlooper pledged to reduce the prevalence of non-medical use of prescription pain medication in Colorado by 2.5 percent, or 92,000 Coloradans, by 2016. The consortium is designed to serve as the vehicle for implementing the governor’s strategic plan for reducing prescription drug abuse.

“While it is initially a one-year plan, the objective of the consortium is to provide a framework for continued collaboration in the future,” Valuck said. “We plan – and are already starting – to develop longer term objectives for the six work groups, raise funds to support the initiatives specified in the strategic plan, and write grants to establish a long-term Center of Excellence that will focus on this topic and position the state of Colorado as a leader in the effort to reduce prescription drug abuse and misuse, to create the healthiest population in the nation.”