Oregon PDMP finally updates its’ reporting elements

Per a letter I wrote awhile back, I see that the Oregon PDMP is finally reporting the refills properly per my suggestion.

The PDMP had been reporting refills starting with “0” and counting upwards as they were filled. Unfortunately that doesn’t do anyone any good because no one knew the original amount of refills given, so then you wouldn’t know when they would end.

Bottles show refills and count down as they are filled. Most providers track them the same way. Now they are reporting them as the full amount of refills given, then counting down to “0.” Now the information becomes really useful.

But they still have programming errors to consider given that now some of their refills are showing up as negative numbers since they changed the counting method mid-stream. I have seen the refill column now showing “-1” and “-2” due to the change. Too bad the programmers weren’t smart enough to do the right thing from the beginning.

That’s what happens when you have programmers creating output formats without consulting the actual users; it’s called system analysis. I did it years ago and it saves time and provides better data. Too bad new programmers have lost sight of that process.