Arkansas News: Narcotics Task Force Control and Detection Committee Report

August 4, 2010 3:50 PM

Published in the August 2010 Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy Newsletter  

The Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy appointed a Board committee of pharmacists from various areas of practice to highlight issues related to diversion as the Narcotics Task Force for Control and Detection. This committee’s report was discussed during the June 2010 Board meeting where the Board was able to consider different approaches to both prevent and detect diversion of controlled substances. A few of these measures that can be instituted in most any pharmacy would include the following:  

• In and out report during a routine time frame (shrink report, check of how much ordered vs how much dispensed in a specific time frame such as 1, 3, 6, 9, or 12 months)
• Quarterly audits for selected products, such as medications at high risk for diversion or abuse
• Perform annual inventory (or more frequent) for controlled substances to verify on-hand quantities of each medication
• Routinely run report on changes made to inventory in dispensing system and check for validity of changes

These detection measures were discussed as well as potential regulation changes that the Board has requested for consideration during the October Board meeting, which would include adding responsibility to the pharmacy permit holders for having policies and systems in place for preventing and detecting diversion of controlled substances, as well as clarifying requirements for pharmacists to utilize these tools.