Narcotic Prescribing

The weekly "Vital Signs" report from the CDC this week focuses on narcotic prescribing practices in the United States.  One very important thing you can do to make sure you are prescribing appropriately is verify the patient's status on the PAT website.  This allows you to search an individual patient's controlled substance history, allowing you to see all controlled substances filled by any provider for the patient within the state of Texas in the last 12 months.  Once you have a PAT account set up, the process takes just a few minutes and is well worth the time.  You can find the PAT website at https://www.texaspatx.com/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fdefault.aspx