Prescription Drug Monitoring Program

Description, Registration, and Login

The North Dakota Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) is a valuable tool for healthcare practices. It provides several features to enhance patient care and safety. With the PDMP, your practice can:

1. Look up patient’s controlled substances/drugs of concern history.
2. Coordinate care between multiple providers with NarxCare, which allows you to see the other providers co-prescribing to your patients and Care Notes allows you to communicate care & upload contracts/information for all existing and future providers.
3. Receive patient alerts for those at a higher overdose risk.
4. See patient indicators for Medical Marijuana Card Holders and Opioid Treatment Program patients.
5. Appoint delegate(s) [RN, LPN] to pull reports on your behalf.
6. View your prescribing history.
7. Quarterly provider reports are ONLY distributed to the prescriber. ND PDMP users who have an active account, defined role, and specialty, and have written one controlled substance or drug of concern prescription in or from ND in the past 6 months receive a provider quarterly prescribing report.

To get started you’ll need to create an account, using your NPI number, DEA number (if applicable), and ND BOM license number. If you have any questions regarding PDMP, please call 701-877-2410 or email pdmp@ndboard.pharmacy. The PDMP is operated by the North Dakota State Board of Pharmacy and accessible on their website. It’s important to note that the system does not allow the creation of multiple accounts.

PDMP Guidelines

The North Dakota Board of Medicine issued the below guidelines for use of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) by ND licensed prescribers of any controlled substance.  

The Board will consider the use or non-use of the PDMP in accordance with its guidelines as evidence of whether a practitioner has met the requirements of the North Dakota Medical Practice Act, specifically, North Dakota Century Code section 43-17-45 and North Dakota Administrative Code section 50-05-02-01.

Guidelines for using the PDMP

These guidelines address the use of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program by licensees authorized to prescribe drugs reported by the program, which include any controlled substance.

If a licensee prescribes any drug reported by the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program has reason to believe that a patient may be abusing or diverting prescribed medications, the licensee shall access the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program and document the assessment of the monitoring results to help determine the proper treatment of the patient.

Requesting A Report

When the licensee has knowledge that the patient exhibits any of the following signs of potential abuse or diversion, the licensee shall request a report from the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program:

1. Selling prescription drugs;
2. Forging or altering a prescription;
3. Stealing or borrowing reported drugs;
4. Taking more than the prescribed dosage of any reported drug;
5. Having a drug screen that is inconsistent with the prescribed drugs by indicating that the patient is not taking the prescribed drugs, is taking additional or illicit drugs or refusing to take a drug screen;
6. Being arrested, convicted or diverted by the criminal justice system for a drug related offense;
7. Violating any prescribing agreement with a licensee;
8. Receiving reported drugs from prescribers not disclosed to the treating licensee;
9. Having a family member, law enforcement officer or health care professional express concern about the patient’s use of reported drugs.

When the patient exhibits any of the following signs of potential abuse or diversion, the licensee should consider requesting a PDMP report:

1. Frequently requests early refills of a reported drug for any reason;
2. Appears impaired or excessively sedated to the licensee in any patient encounter;
3. Requests reported drugs by street name, color or markings;
4. Has a history of drug abuse or dependency.

When a licensee expects to prescribe reported drugs to a patient for a chronic condition or for a protracted basis, the licensee shall request a PDMP report:

1. Upon determining that such prescribing will be on a protracted basis;
2. At least semi-annually thereafter.

A licensee shall document the receipt and assessment of PDMP reports made under these guidelines.

Disclaimer: The above is an overview of the PDMP requirements in the State of North Dakota and should not be construed as legal advice.  Please note practitioners are also required to abide by all federal laws, including the Support Act section 5042, which requires, as of October 1, 2021, prescribers to check the PDMP for a Medicaid enrollee’s prescription drug history before prescribing controlled substances to the enrollee.