Professional Status and Physicians’ Views of Expanding Governmental Oversight of Prescribing Drugs

Abstract

Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) represent new challenges to physicians’ professional autonomy and authority. In this study, physicians’ attitudes toward government officials’ use of PDMP data are explored using online survey data. In general, the physicians surveyed ( n = 2,444) expressed qualified support of criminal justice officials’ accessing PDMP data to combat abuse. Also, doctors with higher professional status, older physicians, and those who prescribed more opioids were significantly less supportive of criminal justice oversight. The findings have implications both for reducing the prescription drug epidemic and for sociological research on the profession of medicine.