Kaiser agrees to pay $850,000 to settle charge of faulty record-keeping at Modesto pharmacy

Kaiser Foundation Health System has agreed to pay $850,000 to settle federal allegations of defective prescriptions and inaccurate records at its 3800 Dale Road pharmacy in Modesto.

An investigation into a theft of controlled substances at the pharmacy in December 2013 resulted in prosecution of a Kaiser employee on a grand theft charge. It also led to closer scrutiny of the pharmacy by investigators with the Drug Enforcement Administration diversion control unit in Fresno.

The case brought by the U.S. attorney of the Eastern District of California charged the Kaiser pharmacy with violating the record-keeping rules of the Controlled Substances Act, which aim to prevent potent, addictive drugs such as narcotic pain medications from getting into the hands of people in the community.

Investigators found that a large percentage of prescriptions filled at the pharmacy lacked the patient and dosage information required by regulations. In addition, incoming and outgoing controlled substances were not documented accurately, investigators found.

There was no evidence the violations caused harm to patients.

Kaiser cooperated with investigators and agreed to implement protocols to correct the problems, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

In a statement Thursday, Kaiser Permanente said tracking and management of controlled substances is taken seriously at its pharmacies. “Since bringing this matter to the attention of the Department of Justice, we have reviewed the Modesto pharmacy’s documentation and record-keeping of controlled substances, and have taken a number of steps, including instituting additional security controls.”

In a news release, U.S. Attorney Phillip Talbert said large pharmacy chains and health care providers such as Kaiser dispense a large volume of controlled substances to customers. It’s imperative they comply with the record-keeping provisions in the law, he said.

This story was originally published February 9, 2017 at 6:49 PM with the headline "Kaiser agrees to pay $850,000 to settle charge of faulty record-keeping at Modesto pharmacy."