Washington State Prescription Monitoring Program Dispensation Records 2012-Present

January 2012 to present de-identified public data from Washington's Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP), which collects dispensing records for Schedule II-V controlled substances. The data excludes prescriptions dispensed outside WA, those for ≤24 hours, hospital-administered doses, and those from specific federal or correctional facilities. It is published by the Washington State Department of Health under program rules WAC 246-470.

Use Cases

• Analyze trends in dispensation volumes for specific drug classes like Opioids or Benzodiazepines over time.
• Study geographic or temporal patterns in controlled substance prescriptions using de-identified dispensation records.
• Investigate the impact of policy changes by examining dispensing data before and after key dates, such as the 2015 voluntary reporting start for some federal pharmacies.

Strengths

• Data collection began for all dispensers on October 7, 2011, with public records starting January 1, 2012, providing a long temporal series.
• Records are de-identified in alignment with program rules WAC 246-470-080, removing patient, prescriber, and dispenser information for privacy.
• Covers a defined scope of controlled substances, specifically Schedule II, III, IV, and V prescription drugs.

Limitations

• Excludes significant prescription categories including those dispensed outside Washington State, for ≤24 hours, and from specific federal or correctional pharmacies, limiting population coverage.
• Data is de-identified, removing key analytical dimensions like patient demographics, prescriber details, and specific dispenser locations.
• The dataset's update frequency and total row count are not specified, making current scale and recency unclear.

Provenance

Source

Washington State Department of Health Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP).

Collection Method

Mandatory collection of dispensing records from all in-state dispensers of Schedule II-V controlled substances, as per RCW 70.225 and WAC 246-470.

Time Range

January 1, 2012 to present.

Freshness

Last updated metadata indicates February 7, 2026, but actual data freshness is unspecified.

Geography

Washington State, USA (excludes prescriptions dispensed outside the state).