CASE STUDY
www.medacist.com
The code of conduct at UofL Health provides the foundation for a diversion plan. It states when
employees face an ethical dilemma, take action. Employees need to speak up if any suspect activity.
“We are fortunate to have a CEO with broad experience who understands the critical need to combat
drug diversion,” said Fink. “Equally, he is a leader with high standards and zero tolerance for drug
diversion. He expects a high level of accountability from everyone.”
Every day at UofL Health, the main objective is to target risk within the medication-use process and
identify risk areas across the health system at every level of responsibility.
CHALLENGES
Drug diversion has a devastating effect on the entire health system and undermines every department.
Fentanyl and other powerful controlled substances are commonplace, allowing a potential diverter
to take them. Issues such as imprecise documentation, failure to physically witness a coworker’s
controlled substance waste, temporary storage of medications in unsecure locations, or failure to
complete required paperwork can allow diversion to happen.
“For a Grand Rounds presentation, I researched fines levied against health systems from the DEA.
Every fine had two commas in them, and as each one displayed, they set a new record amount
because of their failures,” said Fink. “There are steep consequences for not solving challenges.”
DECISION-MAKING CRITERIA
The UofL Health leaders understood the growing prevalence of drug diversion in healthcare facilities
and developed a road map to strengthen its tools to eliminate it. A key strategy included a more
robust system to deliver actionable intelligence on the medication process.
The multidisciplinary community sought greater clarity and confidence in their decision-making and
wanted intelligence and documentation to substantiate diversion activity. These factors and more led
to look at several drug diversion monitoring solutions including RxAuditor Investigate.
“There is no singular decision-maker on an incidence. We take a collaborative approach to investigate
a case under the principles of trust and verify. This was the same approach when deciding on a
system,” said Fink.
After an extensive search lasting months, they narrowed the field to three finalists. Undergoing
further analysis to align with overall system needs, UofL Health selected RxAuditor Investigate from
Medacist as their drug diversion monitoring solution of choice. The committee’s decision ultimately
came down to Medacist excelling at: analytics, compatibility, high standards, flexibility, investigations,
compliance, and cost-effectiveness.
However, before choosing the RxAuditor Investigate solution, leadership put Medacist through their
paces to learn how it could support UofL Health. The selection phase involved leadership:
• Assessing three in-depth presentations on functionality.
• Scrutinizing a live demonstration utilizing a test hospital.
• Ensuring that the reporting and dashboards worked for leadership.
• Verifying that RxAuditor Investigate could interface with existing systems.
• Validating the accuracy of data analytics.
“RxAuditor Investigate met our needs,” Fink said. “Medacist had the stronger record in drug diversion
technology solutions.”
Medacist’s solutions currently protect 67% of the U.S. patient population and more than
3 million clinicians across more than 2,000 facilities nationwide. They hold the only U.S. patent for
drug diversion analytics.
The case study provides details on how Medacist met UofL Health’s measures that led to the contract.
The criteria are a blueprint for other health systems when choosing a drug monitoring system.
“
We have a CEO
who understands
the devastation of
addiction and makes
combating it an
imperative. Equally,
he is a leader with
high standards and
zero tolerance for
drug diversion.
He expects a high
level of accountability
from everyone.”
Robert Fink, Pharm.D., MBA,
FACHE, FASHP, BCNSP, BCPS
Chief Pharmacy Executive
~ UofL Health, Louisville, KY