Suffolk Reporter

New York State Republican lawmakers are calling on Governor Kathy Hochul to address a loophole in the I-STOP Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP). Senator Dean Murray and Assemblyman Keith Brown, along with other members of the New York State Senate Republican Conference, have sent a letter urging the governor to allocate funds in the upcoming budget for this purpose.

Currently, there is no mandatory reporting requirement when doctors over-prescribe opiates. "It seems that New York State Department of Health officials rely on the pharmacies to voluntarily notify them when there may be a problem with a doctor over-prescribing. Unfortunately, many times this voluntary reporting doesn't occur right away or in some cases it doesn't happen at all. This issue needs to be rectified," said Senator Dean Murray.

Assemblyman Keith Brown emphasized the need for immediate action against doctors found violating the I-STOP PMP. "When a doctor is found to be in violation of the I-Stop PMP, he or she should be suspended immediately and the pharmacies notified not to take any prescriptions from these doctors pending a revocation hearing of their license by the State Education Department. I want to thank Senator Murray for being on top of this issue for many years now and helping to protect New Yorkers from bad doctors who are over prescribing opioids and ruining people's lives. The Governor can easily fix this at the agency level," said Assemblyman Brown.

The lawmakers also propose using funds from the Opioid Settlement for software upgrades or additional hardware necessary for improving the monitoring program.