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California Overhauls Monitoring System for Controlled Substances

Starting Jan. 8 the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) will automatically redirect current CURES users who log in with up-to-date and secure Web browsers to the new CURES 2.0 system. All health practitioners licensed to prescribe or dispense Schedule II through IV controlled substances and medications (such as narcotics) are required by law to sign up for the program before July 1, 2016.

Enhancements to the back-end technology systems supporting California’s prescription drug monitoring program aim to help health-care providers and prescribers flag at-risk patients and curb prescription drug abuse, according to a recent press release from the attorney general’s office.

Starting Jan. 8 the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) will automatically redirect current CURES users who log in with up-to-date and secure Web browsers to the new CURES 2.0 system. According to the press release, the attorney general also sent a letter to the medical community encouraging the use of secure means to access the confidential and sensitive patient information.

“CURES 2.0 will give California’s health-care professionals who prescribe and dispense potent prescription drugs a powerful tool to better access and utilize patient information to help them identify individuals who are abusing these drugs,” said Awet Kidane, director of the California Department of Consumer Affairs. He credited the California Department of Justice, the Department of Consumer Affairs, and the regulatory boards for funding the CURES project.

All health practitioners licensed to prescribe or dispense Schedule II through IV controlled substances and medications (such as narcotics) are required by law to sign up for the program before July 1, 2016. Legislation Gov. Jerry Brown signed last year extended the deadline by six months.

The current online CURES database enables health-care providers to review a patient’s medication history, stores prescription records for most scheduled substances, and uses special analytics to flag potential abusers. According to the attorney general’s office, more than 5.5 million such requests were processed in 2015 alone.

“Through the use of new technology, CURES 2.0 will save lives and improve public health while also providing a vastly improved user experience for healthcare professionals, regulatory boards and law enforcement,” Attorney General Kamala Harris said in a Dec. 22 announcement.

CURES, which stores more than 100 million records, will interface with the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) that gives doctors and pharmacists access to patient histories. Criminal justice agencies use the two systems in tandem to investigate "doctor shopping" and other serious cases of abuse.

The system initially was launched in 1997. The effort to build an updated version started in 2013, and the California Department of Technology approved the project in May 2014. M Corp and other contractors have helped the state build the CURES 2.0 system.

CURES nearly shut down in 2013 due to budget cuts. Harris pushed for legislation to create funding and keep the program going while improving technology to provide better enforcement against doctors who fraudulently prescribe drugs.

Legislation signed in 2013 (SB 809) from former State Sen. Mark DeSaulnier required practitioners who prescribe Schedule II, III and IV controlled substances and pharmacists to enroll in and consult the CURES PDMP. The CURES modernization is being funded by taxes on drug manufacturers and licensing fees on doctors.

 For more information about CURES 2.0, visit https://oag.ca.gov/cures-pdmp.

Matt Williams was Managing Editor of Techwire from June 2014 through May 2017.