South County Hospital Pharmacy Put on Probation After Reported “Loss” of Fentanyl

South County Hospital Pharmacy Put on Probation After Reported “Loss” of Fentanyl

The pharmacy at South County Hospital has been placed on probation by the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) -- after drugs reportedly went missing. 

According to RIDOH, the pharmacy violated state laws by “failing to maintain effective controls against diversion of controlled substances by an employee," following the hospital reporting a “loss” of fentanyl in 2022. 

“On November 26, 2022 the Department received a Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”) Form 106 from the Respondent [sic] reported a loss of Fentanyl Citrate 50 mcg/ml 126 mls (one hundred and twenty six millimeters) and hydromorphone 2 mg/ml 16 cartridges,” according to RIDOH. 

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RIDOH said it met with the hospital’s pharmacy personnel in January of 2023 and “determined the hospital failed to provide support and electronic surveillance programs to sufficient to maintain adequate controls to prevent the diversion of controlled substances” in violation of state law. 

According to RIDOH, in 2022, 434 Rhode Islanders died of accidental overdose deaths, on par with data from 2021 (when 435 accidental overdose deaths occurred). The number of drug overdose deaths in Rhode Island had been increasing since 2019, largely because of a more lethal drug supply locally and nationally.

The hospital pharmacy will now be subject to a third-party monitor on a quarterly basis — at its own expense. 

The probationary period and supervision according to the document signed by the state and hospital will last two years.

The hospital can petition for a review after one year.