pharmacy patient loss report

Advice: It is not unusual for a patient to report to their prescribing clinician that they have discovered that their prescription pain medication (or the written prescription) has been either lost or stolen, leading them to request a new prescription. It is important to distinguish between lost medications and stolen medications.

Full Answer

What happens if a patient reports their pain medication lost or stolen?

Difficult situation #4: A patient reports their pain medication as lost or stolen. Advice: It is not unusual for a patient to report to their prescribing clinician that they have discovered that their prescription pain medication (or the written prescription) has been either lost or stolen, leading them to request a new prescription.

What happens if you lose a prescription form or vial?

Losing a prescription form or a vial of medications may result from the occasional lapses that all patients may have. If this occurs only once it may not have significant medical implications, and the prescriber may choose to replace it without much concern.

What should I do if a patient loses their medication?

If you are not replacing the lost medication, you will need to inform the patient about the potential for withdrawal, and offer to prescribe medications to help diminish withdrawal symptoms.

Is it too late to replace a lost prescription?

If this has not been done, the first time there is a lost prescription is not too late to create a written patient/provider agreement, outlining each of their roles and responsibilities.

When a drug loss or theft has been identified who must be notified?

Federal regulations require that registrants notify the Field Division Office of the Administration in his area, in writing, of the theft or significant loss of any controlled substance, disposal receptacles or listed chemicals within one business day of discovery of such loss or theft.

What is a DEA 224 form used for?

The DEA 224 form is needed for a pharmacy to dispense controlled substances. The DEA 363 form is needed to operate a controlled substance treatment program or compound substances.

What is considered a significant loss of a controlled substance?

Tablets and capsules are commonly dispensed as 100 doses or 90 doses. As the losses are the aggregate total over the previous one year, the Board determined that a total loss of 99 doses or more needed to be reported to the Board.

What happens when a pharmacy loses a prescription?

7. What should you do if you lose a prescription? If your medication is lost, damaged, or stolen, you will need to get a refill or a new prescription. The best place to start is with your healthcare provider.

What is the DEA 41 form used for?

PURPOSE: To document the surrender of controlled substances which have been forwarded by registrants to DEA for disposal. ROUTINE USES: This form is required by Federal Regulations for the surrender of unwanted Controlled Substances.

What is a DEA Form 222?

Using DEA Form 222 to transfer Schedule II Drugs To transfer a C-II controlled substance, like sodium pentobarbital, between laboratories, a DEA Form 222 order form is required. The receiving party must have a DEA Form 222. One laboratory is the "supplier", acting like a pharmacy.

What to do if a controlled drug goes missing?

If the CD keys go missing, this must be reported immediately to the Registered Nurse/Midwife in Charge, who must ensure that the following steps are taken as a matter of urgency: Ask all staff on duty to check if they have the keys on their person. Contact staff who have left the premises.

What does the DEA consider a significant loss?

What constitutes a significant loss? Any unexplained loss or discrepancy should be reviewed within the context of a registrant's business activity and environment.

What is significant loss?

Significant Loss means any loss of a Prescription Drug that exceeds a reasonable level established by like persons, which requires that loss to be reported to the Board or as required by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) or other state and/or federal agencies for Prescription Drugs and controlled substances.

When a patient is dropping off a prescription the pharmacy technician should obtain?

If technicians are stationed at prescription drop-off, consider creating a checklist of critical patient information the technician should obtain from each patient. The date of birth should be written on every hard copy prescription so the pharmacist has a second identifier readily available during verification.

Do pharmacies ever make mistakes?

Pharmacists are human and do make mistakes from time to time. An incorrect drug or dosage can seriously harm a patient. While medication errors can be deadly, they are avoidable.

How often do pharmacies make mistakes?

One pharmacist acknowledged making 10 to 12 errors a year — “that are caught” — in an anonymous letter to the South Carolina Board of Pharmacy. While patients cannot control what happens behind the pharmacy counter, they can be on the lookout for errors. These simple steps can help.

What to expect when drug loss occurs in Oregon?

What you should expect. If the cause of the drug loss or drug theft is not clear from the beginning, an investigation will certainly follow, and that investigation will continue until the cause of the drug loss or drug theft is fully known and understood by the Oregon Board of Pharmacy and, perhaps, the DEA as well. You will be interviewed.

How long does it take to report a drug loss in Oregon?

The applicable Oregon Administrative Rule (OAR) requires that you report a “significant” drug loss or violation related to theft to the Board of Pharmacy within “one business day.”.

What happens if a pharmacy is stealing drugs?

If the pharmacy’s inventory systems and procedures are legally inadequate, the responsible pharmacist (s), and especially the pharmacist in charge, will face additional scrutiny, and may face disciplinary proceedings. If you are reporting a drug theft, and the theft was accomplished due to a security lapse, the Board of Pharmacy will pursue ...

What happens if a drug is stolen in Oregon?

The pharmacist (s), and especially the pharmacist in charge responsible for the pharmacy’s annual audits, perpetual inventories, and security of the pharmacy, will be exposed to additional scrutiny by the Oregon Board of Pharmacy and by the DEA. You will want competent legal counsel from the onset. If you proceed without competent legal counsel, you do so at your own peril.

How to notify the DEA of a drug use violation?

To notify the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), go online and complete and submit a DEA Form 106. Print a copy and send it to the Oregon Board of Pharmacy, as required by OAR 855-041-1030 (3), quoted immediately above. Never forget, however, that you are creating a public record.

What happens if you report a drug theft?

If you are reporting a drug theft, and the theft was accomplished due to a security lapse, the Board of Pharmacy will pursue the security lapse until the cause of the security lapse is known. If the drug theft was accomplished after hours by someone other than a pharmacist, the pharmacy inspectors and the Board of Pharmacy will further want ...

Will the Board of Pharmacy continue to investigate?

Finally, you should expect that the Board of Pharmacy investigation will continue until all discrepancies in inventory and systems have been understood and corrected. To the extent you are pro-active and take charge (if you don’t lead the investigation, a pharmacy inspector will), you will improve your chances of a positive and quick resolution. I would be remiss not to add that you will need legal counsel to guide you through the process.

Before you report a concern

This page provides access to the key points you need to consider before filling in the online form to report a concern.

Are you reporting a concern for someone else?

You can raise a concern on behalf of a child under 18 if you are their parent or legal guardian. If you are reporting a concern on behalf of someone over 18 years old, we will need to have their consent for you to act on their behalf.

What information we need from you

Please give as much information as you can when you complete our online concerns form. This will help us to decide quickly if we need to investigate, and the best way to begin our investigation.

When was the Federal Register Notice for the loss of controlled substances issued?

For more information regarding reporting theft or loss of controlled substances, see the Federal Register Notice – Reports by Registrants of Theft or Significant Loss of Controlled Substances (August 12, 2005)

How to report a controlled substance theft?

§1301.76 (b) and 21 U.S.C. §830 (b) (1) (C)). The DEA Form 106 can be completed via Theft/Loss Reporting Online (TLR) or download the fillable PDF version and submit to your Local Diversion Field Office.

How to complete a DEA 106?

The DEA Form 106 can be completed via Theft/Loss Reporting Online (TLR) or download the fillable PDF version and submit to your Local Diversion Field Office. In order to better track controlled substances and listed chemical products reported as lost or stolen, DEA uses of the National Drug Code (NDC) number.

How to contact DEA?

Your web browser must support 128-bit encryption. If you have questions regarding the electronic submission, please contact DEA Call Center 1-800-882-9539.

Do you have to report ultimate recovery of drugs?

There is no requirement to report ultimate recovery of these drugs. CAUTION should be exercised in drawing conclusions from this data. Material reported as a theft or loss does not necessarily equate to illicit use.

What is a pharmacy student at WFH?

At WFH, the effort to recoup lost pharmacy revenue is directly managed by a clinical pharmacist, with pharmacy staff and prescribers providing leads. A pharmacy student assists in sorting through the daily list of uninsured patients, which is extremely helpful; in some situations, a pharmacy technician may be suitable to perform this task.

Can you change orders after a mixed medication?

In an outpatient infusion center, patients may miss their appointments or become ill, or physicians may change patient orders after a medication has been mixed, and efforts to reuse the medication prior to the beyond-use date may be unsuccessful. In these situations, the medication is usually wasted. Likewise, inpatient orders may change secondary to abnormal lab results, or a patient may decline a medication after it has been mixed. WFH has had IV vial closure devices (stoppers) involute, resulting in contamination and loss of the product.

Do manufacturers request the return of expired medications?

Regardless of what documentation is required, few manufacturers request the actual return of these medications. WFH has at times taken digital photos of medications to be wasted, to serve as a record when saving the wasted dose proved impractical or unsafe.