News  Updates on PMP and Mandatory Educational Requirements for Prescribers

Date: September 13, 2011; Corrected September 15, 2014.

The Massachusetts Online Prescription Monitoring Program (MA Online PMP) is a secure website that supports safe prescribing and dispensing. The MA Online PMP allows authorized prescribers to view the prescription history of a patient for the past year.

As of January 1, 2011, pursuant to MGL 94C, Section 18(e), all prescribers, upon initial application for a Massachusetts license to practice dentistry and subsequently during each dental license renewal period, must complete education relative to:

• Effective pain management;
• Identification of patients at high risk for substance abuse; and
• Counseling patients about the side effects, addictive nature and proper storage and disposal of prescription medications.

Boston University School of Medicine, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the New England Division of the US Drug Enforcement Agency, the Massachusetts Medical Society, and the Massachusetts Hospital Association, developed an educational program entitled Safe and Effective Opioid Prescribing for Chronic Pain that meet the educational objectives of the statute.

The educational program is a web-based activity supported by funding from the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine, and by an unrestricted educational grant from the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and is offered at no charge to prescribers. At the completion of the program, a certificate for 3 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ can be downloaded and printed; this credit equates to 3 CEUs for the dentist with prescriptive authority.

Please note that MGL 94C, Section 18(e) does not specify a minimum number of contact hours to comply with this education requirement. Also, the Board’s Pain Management Advisory was amended on July 20, 2011 to include the new education requirement for dentists with prescriptive authority.

Through your signature on the Massachusetts Controlled Substance Registration (MCSR) form and on your dental license renewal form, you attest under penalties of perjury compliance with state tax and child support laws, mandatory reporting laws, and regulations, including continuing education requirements.