By Brenna Angel, Kentucky Public Radio Kentucky’s prescription monitoring program will soon link up with other databases in other states. The governor’s office announced Tuesday that Kentucky will sign an agreement with the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy to join the InterConnect, a network of prescription monitoring programs across the country. The Commonwealth joins 20 other states taking part in the InterConnect.“Indiana, Ohio, and Virginia are up and running and sharing, and West Virginia is very soon to come on board. Which means that four of border states, hopefully we’ll be sharing data with very soon,”said Dave Hopkins, manager of Kentucky’s prescription monitoring program known as KASPER. A multi-state information exchange allows doctors and pharmacists to easily track where patients are getting their controlled substances. It can help spot doctor-shoppers and possible drug abuse. NABP is providing the InterConnect as a free service for at least five years.
Rick Howlett was midday host and the host of LPM's weekly talk show, "In Conversation." He was with LPM from 2001-2023 and held many different titles, including Morning Edition host, Assignment Editor and Interim News Director. He died in August 2023. Read a remembrance of Rick here.