CURES Database Tracks Suspicious Prescription Activity
For about 70 years, the California Department of Justice tracked prescriptions of narcotic medications as a means to detect prescription drug abuse. In 2008, then-Attorney General Jerry Brown set out to modernize the system, which came to be known as CURES, or Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System, so that instead of calling or faxing in information requests, physicians and pharmacists could log in and check prescription histories to detect diversion of narcotic drugs through filled prescriptions.
As the CURES system has been modernized, it is also become a widely used tool for the detection of "doctor shopping," excessive prescribing and other strategies whereby both patients abuse prescription drugs and physicians game the system to essentially act as drug dealers from their medical practice. The result of the modernization of the CURES system is apparent in a growing number of high profile cases involving physicians criminally prosecuted and disciplined for excessive prescribing of narcotic medications to drug abusing individuals. CURES has become a law enforcement tool for the Medical Board and police alike to both detect and substantiate perceived drug dealing involving medical practices and pharmacies.
Physicians must therefore be mindful of patients who return for multiple refills of narcotic medications. In these cases, a check of the CURES database through the Department of Justice can detect doctor shopping behavior by a patient. Also, physicians should be aware that excessive prescribing of dangerous drugs outside of practice norms can raise a red flag resulting in a Medical Board investigation and more dire consequences.
