Kentucky: U.S. DOJ Grant Funds Data-Driven Response to Prescription Drug Misuse

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 9, 2017) — Following a successful application for funding under the Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program administered by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the University of Kentucky College of Public Health and the Commonwealth of Kentucky will receive funding over the next three years from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. DOJ, to implement, “Data-driven Response to Prescription Drug Misuse in Kentucky.” 

The Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center (KIPRC), a bona fide agent for the Kentucky Department for Public Health and part of the UK College of Public Health, will implement this project to expand data-sharing and support decision-making of regulatory and law enforcement agencies and public health officials in their efforts to reduce drug misuse and diversion. KIPRC will partner with the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting (KASPER), the Administrative Office of the Courts, the Kentucky licensure boards, and other agencies and professional organizations.

Svetla Slavova, associate professor, Department of Biostatistics, is the principal investigator.

The project's research component will be carried by a multi-disciplinary University of Kentucky team of researchers representing the UK College of Public Health/KIPRC, the UK Institute for Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy (IPOP) and the UK Center on Drug and Alcohol Research (CDAR).

The goals of the project are to evaluate the impact of Kentucky law 2017 SB32 requiring the Administrative Office of the Courts to forward drug conviction data to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services for inclusion in KASPER; develop and provide continuing education for prescribers and dispensers on the content and interpretation of conviction data; evaluate changes in gabapentin prescribing, co-prescribing and diversion after gabapentin became a Schedule V controlled substance in Kentucky on July 1, 2017; analyze existing and identify new data sources to provide actionable data for state and local drug misuse prevention; and form a multidisciplinary multi-agency action team to provide guidance on the program implementation and evaluation. The Kentucky Drug Overdose Prevention Advisory Workgroup will perform the functions of an action team for this grant.