This post was originally published on this site
Abington Hospital-Jefferson Health has agreed to pay $510,000 to the U.S. government to settle allegations that lax controls allowed a hospital pharmacist to steal more than 35,000 pills during a three-year period.
The hospital also has agreed to implement a program that would prevent, identify and address future diversions, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
“Abington Hospital takes very seriously the security, management and administration of controlled substances,” according to hospital President Meg McGoldrick in a statement. “We have worked tirelessly over the past three years to ensure we have the systems and processes in place to prevent future diversions of controlled substances.”
The hospital said it immediately informed the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration when it discovered the thefts in 2013. The thefts, mostly of the narcotic painkiller oxycodone, occurred between February 2010 and August 2013.
The pharmacist, Renata Dul, used the “manual” distribution function of the hospital’s pharmacy computer system to defeat internal alerts that would have flagged missing or stolen drugs, court documents state. She took the pills from locked containers for controlled substances in the pharmacy and destroyed the paperwork for each manual distribution.
Dul pleaded guilty in 2014 to 25 counts of possession with the intent to distribute oxycodone. Now 33, she was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to repay nearly $65,000 to the hospital.
A subsequent DEA audit revealed discrepancies for more than 35,000 pills, missing or incomplete medication inventories and altered or missing drug records, all of which violated the hospital’s responsibilities under the Controlled Substances Act and federal regulations, officials said.
Federal officials said the hospital has cooperated in addressing deficiencies.
“We commend Abington Memorial Hospital for disclosing its diversion problems and for working to improve its practices and address potential diversion by hospital personnel,” Acting U.S. Attorney Louis Lappen said in a statement.
Hospital officials said the facility has invested about $1.96 million in the past three years in new technology, equipment and systems to manage its pharmacy inventory.
Changes include upgrading inpatient pharmacy computer systems, physically enclosing the controlled substances vault and installing new and additional security cameras and badge-swipe access. It will institute regular monitoring, improve inventory practices and increase security and tracking measures for medication. It also has hired a full-time, lead supervisor pharmacy technician whose primary responsibility is monitoring controlled substances, from ordering through dispensing.