Compliance Perspective – Stolen Narcotics:
The Compliance Officer should review with the Administrator and the DON the facility’s policies and procedures for Medication Storage to ensure that it meets the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medication Storage and Labeling requirements. These requirements along with sanitary and temperature conditions require that the secured and locked locations (medication rooms, carts, boxes and refrigerators) where medications are stored be accessible only to designated staff. Staff must be educated regarding the policies and procedures and about the importance of accessibility to the medications by designated staff only. The DON will be asked to develop and implement an audit of the facility’s Medical Storage protocol using the Medication Storage form (CMS-20089) used by surveyors inspecting the facility. An audit will also be developed and implemented to determine if personnel who have access to the facility’s medication storage locations are specifically designated for that access. The Compliance Officer will follow-up on the audits to review and discuss any areas that may need modification or improvement.
For the second time in three weeks, narcotics worth thousands of dollars have been stolen from the same nursing home in Oklahoma. The most recent break-in was reported by nursing home staff on the morning of August 14. The city’s police chief says that the thieves took 202 doses of Norco, 7 Fentanyl patches, 96 doses of Oxycontin, 90 doses of Morphine and 104 doses of Xanax.
The chief told reporters that entry into the facility was gained by removing a window pane, unlocking the window and coming in through that small window.
There were three employees working in the facility at the time of the robbery, but none of them reported hearing or seeing anything suspicious.
There have been no arrests made, and the chief says that the drugs were locked away both times the robberies occurred. He also made this statement about who might have been involved in the theft: “If you don’t work there, you don’t know where the key is; so, it’s a previous or present employee.” The chief is asking for assistance from the State’s Attorney General because of the type and quantity of the narcotics that were taken.
Police are particularly concerned about the potentially deadly effects of the Fentanyl patches because they recently found two people dead with Fentanyl patches in their mouths. The chief commented on those deaths and the fact that Fentanyl can cause death within minutes of ingestion.
The owner of the nursing home expressed his concern about the robberies and that he hoped the police were able to solve them very quickly.
