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As of July 1, 2023, licensing and other health and occupational licenses will become part of the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing (DIAL) as a new organizational structure for state government goes into effect. Government departments and agencies that provide related services or have similar business functions are aligning to better serve Iowans.

Iowa Board of Nursing

Iowa Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP)

The Iowa PMP provides authorized prescribers and pharmacists with information regarding their patients’ use of Schedule II, III, and IV controlled substances, a tool in determining appropriate prescribing and treatment of patients without fear of contributing to a patient’s abuse or dependence on addictive drugs or diversion of those drugs to illicit use. The database contains controlled substance dispensing information from Iowa pharmacies beginning January 1, 2009, and will maintain records for four years following the date of dispensing. Iowa pharmacies are required to report dispensing information to the program at least weekly. Effective January 1, 2013, nonresident Iowa pharmacies that dispense into Iowa began weekly reporting of controlled substances prescriptions delivered to patients located in Iowa.

All information contained in the PMP database, including records of requests for patient prescription history reports, is privileged and strictly confidential and is not subject to public or open records laws.

Authorized health care practitioners (prescribers and pharmacists) may, but are not required to, access PMP information regarding their patients’ use of controlled substances to assist them in determining appropriate treatment options and to improve the quality of patient care. The PMP provides health care practitioners with another health care tool. The PMP database assists practitioners in identifying potential diversion, misuse, or abuse of controlled substances by their patients while facilitating the most appropriate and effective medical use and verifying appropriate use of those addictive substances.

Health care practitioners who are authorized to prescribe or dispense controlled substances may obtain PMP information regarding their patients, or regarding patients seeking treatment from the health care practitioner, for the purpose of providing health care.

  • Prior to being granted access to PMP information, a practitioner must submit a request for registration and program access. Information regarding this process is included herein.
  • Registered practitioners and registered agents may not share their access information. Username and password are unique to each individual and must be protected from unauthorized access and use.
  • Registered practitioners may designate up to three (3) health care professionals, such as RN, LPN, CMA, or certified pharmacy technician, to register for PMP access as an agent of the practitioner. The agent registration process differs from the practitioner registration process. Agent registration forms and procedures are available by contacting a PMP administrator or on the Board of Pharmacy Website at https://pharmacy.iowa.gov.  Agents will each receive access credentials and may not share those credentials with any other person. Agents may request patient prescription history reports only as directed by the agent’s supervising practitioner.
  • Following registration, all prescribers, pharmacists, and practitioner agents will submit Requests and Alerts, retrieve patient history reports, and access online PMP information in the same manner.

Iowa PMP - Registration & Access by Prescribers and Pharmacists

To register for access to PMP information and Web Center, open your Web browser and go to the following Website: https://pmp.iowa.gov/IAPMPWebCenter/. The following displays:

Click the [REGISTER] link indicated by the arrow. Follow the on-screen instructions, complete the registration form, and click [SUBMIT] at the bottom of the form. Please be sure to accurately enter your email address on the registration form and add terry.witkowski@iowa.gov to your address book or safe list to ensure emails from the Iowa PMP will be delivered. Your Username and Password will be delivered to you via email following approval of your registration, usually within a couple of days.

Return to the Web Center at https://pmp.iowa.gov/IAPMPWebCenter/ and proceed with login. Requests and Alerts are submitted online via the Web Center. If you lost or forgot your password, click the link below the login box and follow the on-screen directions.

To submit a Request for a patient’s prescription history, click [REQUESTS] and then click [NEW REQUEST]. Complete the Request form by entering the

  1. patient’s last name
  2. first name
  3. date of birth
  4. select the date range of prescriptions requested (defaults to last 12 months)
  5. complete the certification statement; and click [SUBMIT].

In most instances, your Request will process within a few seconds and you will receive a notification at the top of the page that your Request processed automatically. Click the ATTACHMENT named “Patient Rx History Report” to open, save, or print the report. If your Request cannot be processed automatically, you will receive an email notification when your report is ready. Log on to the Web Center, click your Request, and click the ATTACHMENT named “Patient Rx History Report.”

To submit an Alert, click [ALERTS] in the blue pane on the left of the page and then click [SUBMIT]. You may submit an Alert if you discover lost or stolen prescription blanks, if you identify a patient that is involved in diversion activities, or any other information that you believe other health care professionals should know about a patient. Complete the Alert form, including as much information as possible to identify the subject of the Alert and the circumstances that prompted you to submit the Alert. Complete the certification statement and click [SUBMIT].

A User Guide is available on the PMP Web Center under Program Guides and Information. Click [PMP User Guide] to open the User Guide.

The PMP and Prescribing Cheat Sheet is also available.

IOWA PMP CONTACT: Terry Witkowski, (515) 281-6676, terry.witkowski@iowa.gov , Iowa Board of Pharmacy, 400 S.W. Eighth Street, Suite E, Des Moines, IA 50309-4688