By David Brzozowski Sr., Medacist President & CEO
While the world continues to deal with COVID-19, important healthcare issues, such as the opioid epidemic are more prevalent than ever. In fact, 2020 saw an unprecedented number of deaths from the misuse and overdosing of controlled substances.
We have all read the headlines and understand the pressure that the pandemic has put on our frontline healthcare workers. COVID-19 has exacerbated already overwhelmed nursing and medical personnel. With PPE shortages, staff shortages, and ICU beds at capacity, healthcare leaders are physically and mentally strained. Additionally, the pandemic’s mental toll on the healthcare workforce could lead to an increase in drug diversion and substance abuse to cope with the mental distress. This pressure creates a higher risk for drug diversion events to fly under the radar.
In addition, statistics from both the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the American Nurses Association (ANA) suggest that about 10 percent of healthcare workers are abusing drugs.
The current situation requires real-time and solutions to help hospital and healthcare organizations accurately track and monitor their pharmaceuticals and prescription medicines.
Back in 1997, we were the first player in the healthcare market to discover a need for analytics around drug diversion. Drug diversion, or the removal of drugs from its intended audience, is a continual problem for hospitals and healthcare organizations around the country. Drug diversion results in multi-victim exposure -- impacting the clinician who diverts the drug, the patient who isn’t administered the drug, the unintended recipient of the diverted drug, as well as the healthcare facility from which it was diverted. This is not an issue about tracking or thief, it is about saving lives.
Today, Medacist holds the only U.S patient for drug diversion. And, our solutions protect 67% of the U.S. patient population and over 3 million clinicians across 2000+ facilities nationwide.
Our data science has advanced and contributed enormously as an ally for pharmacy and nursing administrators of healthcare organizations large and small. I’m proud of the client trust we’ve earned from 22 years of industry-specific data and superior customer service to hospitals and healthcare facilities.
Since founding, our mission has been to establish and provide analytics platforms for healthcare professionals to combat potential drug diversion within organizations. Our solutions not only help improve a healthcare facility’s efficiency by reducing manual labor and costs, but more importantly, assist in the protection of our nation’s healthcare workers and the lives of their patients.
We’re here and ready to continue the fight.
All Bluesight solutions are based on a simple idea: if providers can keep track of every medication dose from manufacturing to the patient, problems of inefficiency, waste, and patient safety are solved. That’s Medication Intelligence.
This post is related to:
Personalized Wellness, Point-of-Care Services Drug Diversion Monitoring, Diversion Prevention
