Le Lézard
Classified in: Health
Subjects: LAW, EXE

McLaren Health Care Settles with DEA


GRAND BLANC, Mich., Jan. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- McLaren Heath Care has entered into a Settlement Agreement and Memorandum of Agreement with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the United States Attorney's Offices for the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan to settle concerns relating primarily to retail pharmacy operations at some McLaren facilities.

The Agreement is the culmination of a multi-year effort with the DEA, which identified prescribing irregularities at the McLaren Port Huron retail pharmacy in 2018, prompting McLaren to terminate a pharmacist who was diverting opioids for his own personal use. A subsequent review included an exhaustive assessment of pharmacy protocols at other McLaren facilities ? in some cases stretching over periods of up to 12 years. At the conclusion of its review, the DEA identified irregularities associated with recordkeeping, dispensing and distribution of controlled substances, particularly among retail pharmacies operating under "legacy" pharmacy protocols that had been in place prior to McLaren's acquisition of their operations.

In 2018, and unrelated to this matter, McLaren exited the retail pharmacy business, including the retail pharmacies that were the subject of this investigation.

The Settlement Agreement acknowledges that prior to reaching this resolution with the DEA, McLaren had voluntarily "invested significant resources toward and made substantial improvements to its oversight and processes regarding its handling of controlled substances."

As part of the three-year agreement, the system agrees to pay a monetary settlement and to continue the extensive actions and protocols it has established in recent years to ensure compliance with pharmacy regulations and prevent similar situations in the future, including:

"Our health system takes compliance very seriously and regrets any instance in which we do not meet our regulators' requirements or our own high standards," said April Rudoni, Interim Compliance Director and Chair of McLaren's Controlled Substance Oversight Committee. "From the moment the DEA's first concern was brought to our attention we have worked diligently to strengthen protocols across our system. I am proud of the culture of accountability and compliance we maintain and look forward to continued collaboration with the DEA moving forward."

Media Contact: 
Rosemary Plorin 
[email protected] 

 

SOURCE McLaren Health Care


These press releases may also interest you

at 11:25
Manifest Technologies, Inc., developer of an AI-powered computational neuro-imaging platform for CNS disease, today unveiled the company after completing its initial funding and partnership with a top five global pharmaceutical company. Today, over...

at 11:08
Sunwave Health, a leader in healthcare technology, proudly announces the launch of MARA, a patent-pending, innovative AI Agent designed to transform the landscape of behavioral health documentation. Since its launch on October 25, 2023, MARA has...

at 11:04
MelliCell Inc. has been awarded a U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for $275,000 to conduct research and development (R&D) work on "Industrial Scale Technology for Drug Development in Mature Human...

at 11:00
Eagle Hill Consulting has earned another top workplace award, this time selected by The Washington Business Journal as a 2024 Best Places to Work in the extra-large sized company category. Eagle Hill also has earned multiple best workplace awards...

at 11:00
Astellas Pharma Inc. (TSE:4503, President and CEO: Naoki Okamura,...

at 10:53
A one-of-a-kind healthcare collaborative, the Center for Better Aging (CBA) located at St. Bernard Hospital, opens in July with a health equity mandate to serve the growing 50+ population on Chicago's Greater South Side. ...



News published on and distributed by: