Kit Check Brings Next-Generation Medication Tracking Mainstream with FDA Pilot

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Kit Check, the leader in automated medication management solutions for hospitals, today announced the acceptance of their pilot program that includes partnerships with leading pharmaceutical organizations and health systems to the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The focused pilot will enhance requirements for package-level tracing and verification and explore RFID as an alternative data carrier to the 2D barcode. The program, which includes efforts from Hackensack University Medical Center, Coral Gables Hospital, Nephron Pharmaceuticals and Sandoz, a Novartis division.

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Kit Check, the leader in automated medication management solutions for hospitals, today announced the findings of its 2018 Hospital Pharmacy Operations Report, which surveyed pharmacy leaders affiliated with over 1,000 hospitals across the United States. The findings are published on the heels of a recent analysis of 1 million controlled substance cases which was executed utilizing Kit Check’s artificial intelligence solution for drug diversion, Bluesight for Controlled Substances. The findings of that extensive audit uncovered discrepancies in 12% of all controlled substance cases and point to major issues related to governance and dispensing of highly addictive medications, including opioids, within hospitals. Elucidating on the audit findings, Kit Check’s hospital pharmacy survey shines light on various challenges within the hospital, including drug diversion.

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Kit Check, the leader in automated medication management solutions for hospitals, and Avery Dennison, a global leader in intelligent label solutions and the world’s largest UHF RFID partner, are partnering to work directly with drug manufacturers worldwide to apply RFID tags to medication packaging. Tagging pharmaceutical products in this way helps improve patient safety by enabling more accurate tracking and authentication of medication through the entire supply chain, with the goal of reducing error rates to nearly zero. It also eliminates the need for cost and labor-intensive in-house medication tagging at hundreds of hospitals. Read more…

Although they are meant to handle them responsibly, studies reveal that there are health care professionals who suffer from drug addiction. The findings suggest that 10%-15% of clinicians abuse drugs at some point during their career. This also typically means they have engaged in medication diversion.

If you are not familiar with the term “diversion,” think of it as the polite way to say drug theft that occurs in medical institutions. The opioid crisis has led many people to investigate how these controlled substances are entering our communities beyond rouge doctors writing subscriptions and patients selling their medications. One potential source may be hospitals.