IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp10990.html

The Mitigating Role of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs in the Abuse of Prescription Drugs

Author

Listed:
  • Birk, Erica G.

    (Analysis Group)

  • Waddell, Glen R.

    (University of Oregon)

Abstract

In response to the epidemic of prescription-drug abuse, now 49 US states have passed legislation to establish Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs). These programs track controlled-substance prescribing and usage behavior in an effort to improve patient outcomes and identify and preempt access by drug abusers. We exploit variation in the timing of implementation across states to identify the effectiveness of PDMPs on reducing opioid abuse. In particular, by considering the role of specific program attributes we offer the strongest evidence to date of the potential for PDMP-type policy to decrease opioid-related treatment admissions. We also consider heterogeneity across intensity and tenure of use, which reveals that the largest gains are coming from reductions in the number of less-attached users. Overall, these results have important implications for the effective re-design of PDMP policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Birk, Erica G. & Waddell, Glen R., 2017. "The Mitigating Role of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs in the Abuse of Prescription Drugs," IZA Discussion Papers 10990, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10990
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp10990.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas C. Buchmueller & Colleen Carey, 2018. "The Effect of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs on Opioid Utilization in Medicare," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 77-112, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Beth Ann Griffin & Megan S. Schuler & Elizabeth A. Stuart & Stephen Patrick & Elizabeth McNeer & Rosanna Smart & David Powell & Bradley Stein & Terry Schell & Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, 2020. "Variation in Performance of Commonly Used Statistical Methods for Estimating Effectiveness of State-Level Opioid Policies on Opioid-Related Mortality," NBER Working Papers 27029, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. repec:plo:pmed00:1003272 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Kaestner, Robert & Ziedan, Engy, 2023. "Effects of prescription opioids on employment, earnings, marriage, disability and mortality: Evidence from state opioid control policies," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    4. Kim, Bokyung, 2021. "Must-access prescription drug monitoring programs and the opioid overdose epidemic: The unintended consequences," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    5. Shishir Shakya & Jane E. Ruseski, 2023. "The effect of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs on county‐level opioid prescribing practices and spillovers," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 41(3), pages 435-454, July.
    6. Resul Cesur & Joseph J. Sabia & W. David Bradford, 2019. "Did the War on Terror Ignite an Opioid Epidemic?," NBER Working Papers 26264, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Engy Ziedan & Robert Kaestner, 2024. "Effect of prescription opioid control policies on infant health," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 90(4), pages 828-877, April.
    8. Resul Cesur & Joseph J. Sabia & W. David Bradford, 2024. "The effect of combat deployments on veteran opioid abuse," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(6), pages 1284-1318, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dow, Wiiliam H & Godoey, Anna & Lowenstein, Christopher A & Reich, Michael, 2019. "Can Economic Policies Reduce Deaths of Despair? Working Paper #104-19," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt14f015df, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    2. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2019. "Shackling the Identification Police?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 85(4), pages 1016-1026, April.
    3. Mayank Aggarwal & Anindya S. Chakrabarti & Chirantan Chatterjee, 2023. "Movies, stigma and choice: Evidence from the pharmaceutical industry," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(5), pages 1019-1039, May.
    4. Orgul Ozturk & Yuan Hong & Suzanne McDermott & Margaret Turk, 2021. "Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs and Opioid Prescriptions for Disability Conditions," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 415-428, May.
    5. Amy Finkelstein & Matthew Gentzkow & Dean Li & Heidi L. Williams, 2022. "What Drives Risky Prescription Opioid Use? Evidence from Migration," NBER Working Papers 30471, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Gihleb, Rania & Giuntella, Osea & Zhang, Ning, 2020. "Prescription drug monitoring programs and neonatal outcomes," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    7. Aljoscha Janssen & Xuan Zhang, 2023. "Retail Pharmacies and Drug Diversion during the Opioid Epidemic," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 113(1), pages 1-33, January.
    8. Jill Horwitz & Corey S. Davis & Lynn S. McClelland & Rebecca S. Fordon & Ellen Meara, 2018. "The Problem of Data Quality in Analyses of Opioid Regulation: The Case of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs," NBER Working Papers 24947, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. David Powell & Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, 2021. "The Evolving Consequences of OxyContin Reformulation on Drug Overdoses," American Journal of Health Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(1), pages 41-67.
    10. Yonatan Ben-Shalom & Megan McIntyre & Jia Pu & Marisa Shenk & Wenjia Zhu & William Shaw, "undated". "Workers’ Compensation and the Opioid Epidemic: State of the Field in Opioid Prescription Management," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 47a571e0762b43389e5f8e2b3, Mathematica Policy Research.
    11. Simone Balestra & Helge Liebert & Nicole Maestas & Tisamarie B. Sherry, 2021. "Behavioral Responses to Supply-Side Drug Policy During the Opioid Epidemic," NBER Working Papers 29596, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Chen, Chong & Huang, Qianqian & Shi, Chang & Yuan, Tao, 2024. "Opioid epidemic and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    13. Cecilia Diaz-Campo, Antonella Mancino, 2025. "What We RANDomly Did Not Learn: Wave Zero of the U.S. Opioid Epidemic," LCERPA Working Papers jc0156, Laurier Centre for Economic Research and Policy Analysis, revised Jun 2025.
    14. Johanna Catherine Maclean & Justine Mallatt & Christopher J. Ruhm & Kosali Simon, 2022. "The Opioid Crisis, Health, Healthcare, and Crime: A Review of Quasi-Experimental Economic Studies," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 703(1), pages 15-49, September.
    15. Deiana, Claudio & Giua, Ludovica & Nistico, Roberto, 2019. "The Economics behind the Epidemic: Afghan Opium Price and Prescription Opioids in the US," IZA Discussion Papers 12872, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Buckles, Kasey & Evans, William N. & Lieber, Ethan M.J., 2023. "The drug crisis and the living arrangements of children," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    17. Cornelius A. Rietveld & Pankaj C. Patel, 2021. "Prescription opioids and new business establishments," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1175-1199, October.
    18. Dow, William H. & Godøy, Anna & Lowenstein, Christopher & Reich, Michael, 2020. "Can Labor Market Policies Reduce Deaths of Despair?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    19. Ruenzi, Stefan & Maeckle, Kai, 2023. "Friends with Drugs: The Role of Social Networks in the Opioid Epidemic," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277574, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    20. Borgschulte, Mark & Corredor-Waldron, Adriana & Marshall, Guillermo, 2018. "A path out: Prescription drug abuse, treatment, and suicide," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 169-184.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10990. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Mark Fallak (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaalu.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.