In 2023, CCPM began operating the Controlled Substance Stewardship (CSS) Program as part of its Research & Innovation Department. The program began at PCHC in 2013 and achieved a 77% reduction in opioid and benzodiazepine prescriptions by 2017. In 2019, the CSS Program was recognized as a best practice, and a contract was secured with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Behavior Health (OBH), which expanded the CSS Program statewide, allowing CCPM to offer the CSS Program at no cost to client organizations across Maine.

CCPM’s CSS Committee, an interdisciplinary team with experience in pharmacy, pain management, family medicine, psychiatry, and care management, performs individual case reviews at no cost to providers. Each case review includes:

• Detailed medical record review by a clinical pharmacist, followed by de-identified presentation to the CSS Committee;
• Development of a recommended tapering plan and recommendations to be shared with primary care provider;
• Follow-up reviews of each case, including secondary recommendations (as needed); and
• Responses to written patient complaints that may result from implementation of the recommendations on behalf of the provider.