LINNEUS, Maine — A statewide program that helps Maine health care providers identify patients who may be abusing or illegally distributing prescription drugs will require last minute funding from the Legislature, grants or corporate sponsors to avoid being shut down when it loses its funding at the end of May, an official said.
The Diversion Alert Program provides secure online access to drug arrest data to health care providers so they can identify patients at risk of overdosing, in need of addiction treatment or engaged in illegal prescription drug distribution.
But a low level of grants and donations this year has put the program at risk with just two weeks left before its fundraising deadline, Clare Desrosiers, who runs the program out of her home in the southern Aroostook community of Linneus, said Thursday.
The program initially was established in Aroostook County in 2009 before being expanded statewide in 2013 with funding from a two-year grant from the Maine attorney general’s office.
Desrosiers said it tackles the underlying cause of prescription drug abuse — access to drugs through prescribers.
Besides alerting medical professionals about possible abuse and addiction problems, Desrosiers said the program offers “educational material to assist in responding to these patients, so they can find out where they can go and what they can do to get help.”
Each month, the program distributes a list of individuals arrested or summoned for prescription or drug-related crimes in each public health district to prescribers, pharmacists and law enforcement agencies registered to receive the alerts. Health care providers are not required to share patient information with law enforcement officials.
Desrosiers said the two-person operation has been run on a $95,000 annual budget, and she was at the State House Thursday for a public hearing on a bill sponsored by Sen. Michael Willette, R-Presque Isle, An Act To Enhance Substance Abuse Awareness. It seeks $95,000 in state funding on behalf of the program. Desrosiers said Gov. Paul LePage has said that if the bill passes through the Legislature, he will not veto it.
But Desrosiers said that even if the bill passes, the money would not come until well into June.
“I still have some grants out there that I am waiting to hear back on, but I would really like to get some corporate sponsorships,” she said. “It is a difficult time for everyone, but this is a very worthwhile program.”
Peter Elvin, a physician assistant working in an emergency room in Kennebec County, agreed. He noted that he and other physicians saw many unfamiliar patients in the emergency room, and a number of them wanted prescription refills or new requests, for opiates, narcotics and pain medications.
“We see these people all hours of the day, often when corroborating primary care provider information is either difficult or unavailable to attain,” he said. “Diversion Alert’s regular communications have been very useful when evaluating our response to these requests. They help me to understand or identify who I am treating.”
Ann Gahagan, a family nurse practitioner in Aroostook County, said that Diversion Alert has “assisted me to make better decisions about the medication I give patients.”
“It has alerted me more than once to a potential problem,” she added.
Although the program has a $5,000 pledge from Eastern Maine Health Services, that pledge will only be honored if an additional $25,000 can be raised by June 1. To donate to the program, go to diversionalert.causevox.com/