Emergency rooms crack down on abusers of pain pills

In the last few years, the ER has become a top destination for people seeking addictive prescription painkillers like Vicodin, Oxycodone, or Percocet. In response, hospitals in some states, including New Mexico, Texas and Wyoming, have developed tracking systems specifically tailored to the emergency room. The program used by the ER at the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, in Cheyenne, Wyo., is just getting off the ground. Tracy Garcia, who directs the ER, points out the bold red letters that appear on patients' electronic records when they're flagged as abusers. With Wyoming's existing prescription monitoring system, she says, it hasn't been easy to track abusive patients.