As it approaches its 10th year of operation, Virginia’s prescription monitoring program is nearing a milestone.

The database of prescriptions — which allows doctors  and other health care professionals to check the records of patients  who might be abusing their medications — is expected to log more than 1  million requests for information this year, according to the state  Department of Health Professions.

It will be the first time since the system went  online in 2003 that annual queries have topped the 1 million mark. Six  years ago, the system had just 22,156 requests for data.

“We’ve experienced pretty explosive growth,” said Ralph Orr of the Department of Health Professions, who directs the program.

But while the number of prescribers using the system has grown significantly, some say there’s still not enough buy-in.

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